Lots of engineering thinking can be involved in crushing things. As an example, engineers spend a great deal of time designing crush-proof packaging for delicate equipment and packing materials for items that must be stored or shipped. This article presents an activity wherein students can begin to appreciate the technology behind the engineering.…

This article describes a soil-testing activity that enables students to learn some interesting and useful things about how soil behaves under varied conditions. It offers a great way to give them a practical pre-engineering experience and will show them how engineers think about construction and how local soils influence building design. The…

Innovations associated with gas and oil drilling technology, including new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques, have recently led to dramatic boomtown development in many rural areas that have endured extended periods of economic decline. The Marcellus Shale play, one of the world's largest gas-bearing shale formations, lies…

Like many technology teachers, the author, a technology education teacher at Arthur Hill High School in Saginaw, Michigan, tries to stretch his budget by "milking" each student activity for maximum benefit. In the technology department, they use balsa wood towers to teach the basics of structural engineering. To get the most from their materials,…

Published by the Ohio Association of Two-Year Colleges, the "OATYC Journal" is designed to provide a medium for sharing concepts, methods, and findings relevant to the classroom, and an open forum for the discussion and review of problems. This 16th volume of the journal, consisting of the fall 1990 and spring 1991 issues, contains the…