Watching a radio-controlled car zip along a sidewalk or street has become a common sight. Within this toy are the basic ingredients of a mobile robot, used by industry for a variety of important and potentially dangerous tasks. In this challenge, students consider modifying an of-the-shelf, radio-controlled car, adapting it for a robotic task.

The quality of drinking water has been gaining a great deal of attention lately, especially as water delivery infrastructure continues to age. Particles of various metals such as lead and copper, and other substances like radon and arsenic could be entering drinking water supplies. Spilled-on-the-ground hydrocarbon-based substances are also…

Humans and animals need healthy organs to live. Due to medical conditions and accidents, some organs fail to function properly. For these reasons, the medical community has experimented and can now perform successful organ transplants, allowing patients to continue to live their lives. Many countries have medical programs where individuals can…

In this article, the authors examine which nontechnical competencies or soft skills related to technology education should be developed by high school students. Results clearly indicate that university-level engineering and engineering technology professors rate students' interpersonal, communication, and work ethic competencies as desired…

What if you had spent most of your career thinking that ITEA had been running too far out in front of its primary constituency, only in recent years to decide that you now feel the opposite may be true? Well, as the author enters his Presidency that's his current thinking, and he would like to reflect a little bit about how his change of heart…

This article describes the Systems and Global Engineering (SAGE) Project in which students collaborate with others from around the world to model solutions to some of today's most significant global problems. Stevens Institute of Technology and the New Jersey Technology Education Association (NJTEA) have teamed up to develop innovative…

It takes an honest look for a technology teacher to determine whether he or she should engage in doctoral study. Doctoral programs have a rather high attrition rate, as high as 40 or 50%, and university resources might be better spent on those who have a greater chance of succeeding. However, for those who take the plunge, doctoral studies can be…

Throughout history the oceans have directly or indirectly influenced humans. The importance of knowing how to protect this valuable resource and insure it for future generations is vital. Underwater Vehicles are tools essential for this process, and therefore research and development to perfect these devices is needed. However, the main goal of…

The Home Safety Council (2006) reports that home injuries make up one third of injuries in the United States. As the Home Safety Council (2006) reported, "the top five leading causes of unintentional home injury or death are falls, poisoning, fire/burn, choking/suffocation, and drowning." Because the home is separate from the school…

For all students to become successful, productive citizens in the future, it is apparent that they must be well educated in technology. Those students who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds have further to go in attaining that education because they often do not have the capabilities at home to practice technology nor do they have the…

Technology education is not just about things, systems, and processes. It can also be about history, people, technological change, and impacts on society. In this design challenge, one uses technology education principles and ideas to convert an old factory into a museum and learning center. The challenge with this historical resource is to think…

The integration of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics content (STEM) has become a mainstream topic within educational systems. This paper discusses the technology integration model for education and the factors to be considered when taking into account technology education as a focal point of integrated curricula. These factors are:…

Over the past three years, the authors have conducted research in middle and high school classrooms in an effort to improve the effectiveness of robotics to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education--their focus has been on math. The authors have found that subtle changes in the design and setup of the lesson make a…

Like the "phoenix," technology education (TE) can, under the right circumstances, give life to new programs--curricula with different emphases and directions from technology education, yet sharing a common heritage: the belief that applied technology will continue to shape the world. How that shaping process takes place--and the problems that it…

Shelter has been a concern of humans and animals alike for the millennia. Animals, through their natural instincts, build nests and shelters to meet their needs for protection against predators and seasonal changes in the weather. Early humans sought shelter in caves and cliff dwellings and later began to design and build shelters based on the…