Do your parents ever complain about gas prices 
whenever they fill up their car? Do you ever hear about the need to drill for oil when you watch TV? The problem is that we’re running out! Oil is non-renewable and we’ve used what we could get to easily! If we don’t do something, in your lifetime, we may run out of oil – which is very important in running cars, planes, and boats, heating your house, your stove…and a lot more! There is a solution, though: hydraulic fracturing, also known as “fracking.” This is where we drill up to 10,000 ft. in the ground and pump down a fluid to break up rock formations where oil and gas might be trapped within. We can then get this oil out and get the most out of our energy resources – buying us time to develop renewable methods.
The student handout will be given to all students working on the design challenge. It gives a brief recap of the story, it helps the students identify what they are attempting to achieve, and it recaps the design process.
Hydraulic Fracturing TEK8 Instructor’s Guide
This Instructor’s Guide provides the instructor additional information on how to run the design challenge with alternatives for materials and test setups as well as information to help make the design challenge a good educational experience.
The Telling the Story Video conveys the societal impact of the student’s research that is the basis for the design challenge and will set the problem-solving context for students.
The Design Challenge Video leads students through the design process. It indicates materials available, states what the criteria are for success and any constraints. It also gives a second ‘level’ of the design challenge that allows ‘early completers’ to move on to a slightly more difficult challenge.
The presentation can be used in conjunction or in place of the Design Challenge Video.