Natural catastrophes and engineering failures provide timely, motivating, and conceptually rich backdrops for learning. Engineering educators have long embraced case studies of engineering failures as a sound pedagogical strategy for meeting several learning standards, such as "design within realistic constraints", and teaching failure analysis. Within technology education, educators have employed several instructional strategies to examine engineering failures and natural catastrophes, such as debates, design activities, technology assessments, and laboratory activities. This article advocates an examination of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon catastrophe as a teaching case study for enhancing students' technological literacy. Following a pattern of case study pedagogy, the first section describes the technical system and reviews the events leading to the blowout on April 12, 2010. After highlighting factors that contributed to the oil spill, several opportunities for enhancing students' technological literacy are discussed. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.)