This activity asks students to work in teams to consider the pros and cons of different materials as a container for cut pineapple (metal can plastic jar, glass jar).  It reinforces the differences between different categories of material, weighing conflicting factors to reach a design decision, and oral communication to justify a design decision.  It has been successfully used in a large introductory engineering course at the undergrad level and with high school students during a summer outreach program. 

Dr. Amber Genau is a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.  She has been organizing the UAB Materials Camp for high school students since 2011.

Support for Materials Camp at UAB comes from NSF CAREER #1554856 and the ASM Materials Education Foundation.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Amber Genau (2020), "Pineapple Packaging Design Challenge," https://nanohub.org/resources/33799.

  BibTex | EndNote

1. design
2. education/outreach
3. engineering education
4. high school
5. materials
6. Materials Engineering
7. materials science
8. NCN Group - Materials Science
9. undergraduate level