Transportation Curriculum Development Using Technology Application in STEM
This one year project providing professional development for STEM middle and high school teachers and instructional opportunities for their students represents a unique Education/Transportation Industry collaboration to support real-life applications in engineering and transportation. This project is a partnership among the Nebraska Department of Education (NDE) (lead agency); the University of Nebraska-Lincoln through the Mid-America Transportation Center (Department of Civil Engineering) and the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools (College of Education and Human Sciences); the Nebraska Department of Roads, the state Transportation Department; and transportation industry partners, including FutureForce Nebraska (a Governor-appointed task force for developing career pathways for Nebraska job opportunities for young adults), the Nebraska Logistics Council, and the Nebraska Trucking Association. This multiple partnership builds upon an existing pilot project that provided professional development for 6th – 12th grade Nebraska math and science teachers. Department of Transportation funding will allow the current project to be extended to include a summer component for students and primary emphasis on curriculum development and field testing of transportation curriculum materials. The project goal is to increase student STEM performance and interest in STEM and transportation careers through real-life applications in engineering and transportation. Teachers will have access to instructional support materials and information technology (IT) tools that are easily applied in the classroom, directly relate to the core academic content and standards, facilitate student learning beyond memorization of static facts, and demonstrate direct application to transportation-related careers. The project will result in a comprehensive professional development program involving at least 50 contact hours per participating teacher, including 6 days in the summer (divided into two parts), with 2 days to include student participation.
The project combines the expertise of K-12 curriculum development specialists, along with faculty from the UNL Colleges of Engineering and Education and Human Sciences and specialized expertise and resources of business and industry. This unique approach grounds learning in concrete, real-world activities, coaching teachers in how to develop and implement instructional practices that provide students direct experience in solving authentic problems and meaningful exposure to the broad-based career opportunities in transportation. The project will document the impact of a professional development model that combines applied engineering and transportation content, field experiences, interactions with varied career opportunities within the transportation industry, hands-on learning with IT tools, and on-going support and mentoring by education specialists, faculty and industry professionals. Establishing a new culture of collaboration among educators, engineers, and industry professionals, the model can serve as a guide for achieving a technologically savvy, transportation literate workforce and will contribute to the growing body of STEM literature on effective teacher professional development practices and effective instructional practices for students.
The project is specifically targeted to teachers and students in high need Nebraska local educational institutions (LEAs), with particular emphasis on underrepresented groups (i.e., women and minorities). Low performing districts are often small, isolated, and located in economically depressed areas. In order to achieve the broadest impact, all project materials will be made available through the project website, and dissemination efforts will capitalize on established mechanisms of all project partners.
For additional information on this investigation, please contact:
Dr. Laurence Rilett or Dr. Gina Kunz
Project Key Investigators: Laurence Rilett and Gina Kunz
Key Personnel: Gwen Nugent
