Category: STEM Education

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. Full Article

It takes years to develop the knowledge and expertise necessary to practice engineering. As Nebraska’s science and math teachers recently showed, however, it takes only a day to sow seeds of interest in the field.

The 2010 UNL Excellence in Engineering Education Institute, coordinated by CYFS and UNL’s Nebraska Transportation Center, gave dozens of Nebraska’s middle and high school students the chance to learn about the foundations and numerous applications of engineering. The mid-July retreats – held in Lincoln, Omaha, Lexington and Hastings, Neb. – were led by nearly 30 teachers who developed lesson plans during UNL’s Professional Development Math and Science Summer Technology Institute in June. Full Article