Intermodal transportation is the moving of people or cargo using more than one mode of transportation. When a person drives to the airport, stands on a conveyor to move through the terminal, and flies to another city, then he or she is using intermodal transportation. Moving cargo in the first half of the twentieth century was a time-consuming and often inefficient process. This was especially true when it came to loading and offloading ships. Pallets of cargo had to be loaded one at a time using cranes, forklifts, and hand trucks. In 1950, Malcolm McLean revolutionized the shipping industry with the invention of containerization. Containerization is the process of loading odd, difficult-to-handle cargo into a metal container about the size of a semi-tractor trailer. Once loaded, the container itself is hoisted with a specialized crane onto the deck of a ship or into the ship's cargo hold or stowage (Pearson, 2001). The intermodal process begins at a plant or warehouse that has finished goods ready to transport to market. As at any warehouse, a trailer is backed up to the loading dock. In this case, the trailer is really a shipping container fastened to the frame of a semi-tractor trailer as seen in Figure 2. Once the container/trailer is loaded with cargo, the semi-tractor trailer drives it along the highway. In the United States, the interstate highway system is an important component to many transportation systems. For the purpose of transporting manufactured goods, many companies will try to locate plants in areas that provide easy access to interstate highways. When it comes to shipping cargo by truck, freight companies try to locate terminals near the highway and near railroad depots. Included are suggestions for teachers, to formulate class activities that relate the information provided in this article to National Science Education Standards.