Directions for Book Blogging

Welcome to our summer book blog! Unlike most blogs that have one blogger- everyone gets to blog about the book, To Engineer is Human, and share ideas about K-12 engineering education and the "human side" of engineering. To reply to a post, click on Comments at the bottom of the post. To start a new post, click on New Post at the top right. However, to start a new post you have to have a Google account. If you don't want to register on Google, you can send me the text for your post and a title, and I will post it for you.

Who do we have on the blog? Our book blog consists of 16 high school teachers, 1 middle school teacher, 7 elementary teachers, 4 faculty or engineering students from the University of Maine, 3 MMSA staff, and 2 DOE staff. We have a diverse and well-rounded book group which should lead to some interesting conversations. One thing to remember- the most recent post is always at the top of the blog. If you haven't been on for awhile, scroll down and work backwards.

If you start a new post you also have the option of adding photos or other graphics as well as making a hyperlink. Play around with it a bit to get to know how it works. Try a test post- you can always delete it afterwards. Also, you will notice we will build a collection of links listed on the right. Since only the person (Page) with the Google account can add these, if you have any you would like to share, just send them to me at pagekeeley@gmail.com and I will post them for you. This is the first time we have ever tried this as a blog, so we're all getting our feet wet. Don't hesitate to wade right in!

Friday, July 27, 2012

114 people killed!  

In this chapter the details of the structural failure of the Hyatt Regency Hotel are so tragic.  I was struck by the fact that the supports used were only 60% what they should have been...it seems so unlikely that the engineers would have not even gotten this one close.  And to think the warnings that came did not even stop the disaster from happening!  When they realized that the atrium was unsteady when the heavy wheelbarrows were on them that should have been an indication that something was wrong.  Lastly when one accident occurs like in the DC-10 it was determined why it happened and then procedures were changed to correct future problems.  Engineers learn from mistakes yet in some instances lives are lost because of them.   
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2 comments:

  1. CorbinAugust 1, 2012 at 6:23 AM

    Can we foster a culture in students (future engineers, designers and laborers) to report doubts and concerns. In this culture of "sue first, ask questions later", people don't always report concerns. Quite often these concerns are ignored (like Feyman's concerns about the O-rings on the Challenger) or swept under the rug. How can we teach students not to do this?

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  2. AnonymousAugust 3, 2012 at 7:14 PM

    Corbin has an excellent point. What can we do to foster our students to report issues that they see to others and that even if the first person ignores it that they should pursue it with another person? Possibly have students read synopses of such fiascoes?

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