They may lack a driver’s license and ride the bus to school, but students at Lincoln’s Culler Middle School are using other forms of transportation to reach destinations further down the road.
With the support of the Nebraska Center for Research on CYFS, the Nebraska Transportation Center and the Mid-America Transportation Center, Culler recently concluded the first year of an after-school engineering club that illustrated how math and science make modern transportation possible. Dubbed Roads, Rails and Race Cars, the weekly club offered interactive activities that helped Culler students grasp the diverse applications of the algebra, geometry and physics they learned in class.
“I want to provide real-world experiences for the students at Culler,” said Mary Herrington, a Culler science teacher who coordinated the Community Learning Center-sponsored club. “I want them to see the importance of math and science in their lives today and for the future.”
To achieve this, Herrington drew upon six years of participation in the CYFS-co-directed Professional Development Math and Science Summer Technology Institute. Many of the club’s lesson plans were inspired by those developed at the summer institute, which annually provides the expertise of UNL’s engineering faculty to middle and high school teachers throughout Nebraska.
With these lesson plans as a foundation, UNL engineering graduate students helped Culler middle schoolers construct miniature rafts, clock traffic speed with LIDAR guns, test out GPS technology, simulate car crashes, discuss threats to traffic safety, and much more.
Herrington noted that these activities were ultimately designed to encourage students to invest in their education. Based on their response, the students seemed to do just that – while enjoying the ride along the way.
“The best part was seeing the students running down the hallway to get to the club,” Herrington said, “and staying around long after the activity was over to talk with the adults.”
This enthusiasm is shared by Herrington, who believes that the club – like transportation itself – can help students get from where they are to where they want to be.
“I want my students to build dreams for college and have hope that they can be successful in school,” Herrington said. “This club provides a glimpse of what their future can look like if they work hard and never give up hope.”