EXERCISES AND ACTIVITIES
1. The history of engineering is long and varied. It contains many interesting inventions and refinements. Select one of these inventions and discuss the details of its For example, you might explain how the first printing presses came into being and what previous inventions were used to create the new device.
2. Build a simple model of one of the inventions mentioned. A bridge, aqueduct or submarine, for instance. Explain the difficulties of building these devices during the time they were invented.
3. Explain how easy it would be to create some inventions of the past using our present day knowledge and capability.
4. Engineering history is filled with great individuals who have advanced the study and practice of engineering. Investigate an area of engineering that is interesting to you and write a detailed report on an individual who made significant contributions in that area.
5. Explain what it would have been like to have been an engineer during any particular historical era.
6. Compare the lives of any two engineers from the past. Are there similarities in their experiences, projects, and education?
7. What kind of education were engineers of old able to obtain?
8. What period of engineering history interests you most? Why? Explain why this period is so important in the history of engineering.
9. If you had to explain to a 7-year-old child why engineering is important to society, what information from the history of engineering would you relate? Why?