Board 37A: Driving Simulators as Educational Outreach for Freight Transportation

Kwadwo Amankwah-Nkyi; Sarah Hernandez; Breanna Stoesz

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Conference: 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Baltimore , Maryland
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
Start Date: June 25, 2023
End Date: June 28, 2023
Conference Session: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL) Poster Session
Tagged Division: Civil Engineering Division (CIVIL)
Page Count: 11
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--43069
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/43069
Download Count: 117

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Paper Authors

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Kwadwo Amankwah-Nkyi University of Arkansas

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Kwadwo is from the Ashanti Region, Ghana. He earned his BS in Civil Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology (KNUST), Ghana in 2019. He worked at the Ghana Highway Authority, Kumasi as an Assistant Highway Engineer from 2019-2021. He is now a second-year Master's student in Civil Engineering specializing in Transportation Engineering at the University of Arkansas. He is also a Graduate Research Assistant at the Freight Transportation Data Research Lab under the supervision of Dr. Sarah Hernandez. He has worked on various projects involving the National Science Foundation, the Arkansas Department of Transportation, and the Institute for Trade and Transportation Studies. He is the treasurer for the University of Arkansas ITE Student's Chapter.

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Sarah Hernandez University of Arkansas

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Sarah Hernandez is an Associate Professor and holds the Walter E. Hicks and Blossom Russell Hicks Endowed Chair for Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Arkansas. She received her PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a specialization in transportation systems engineering from the University of California, Irvine. She holds a M.S. from the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, California) and a B.S. from the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida). She teaches graduate classes on transportation planning and transportation data analysis. Dr. Hernandez is the faculty advisor for the student chapter of the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and a member of ITE. Her research focuses on new and advanced technology applications in transportation systems engineering and is centered on developing tools and methods to collect and analyze freight and commercial vehicle operations data for long range freight planning. Her project portfolio includes work for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the National Science Foundation, Institute for Trade and Transportation Studies, and the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center. She serves as a member of the Transportation Research Board’s Standing Committee on Freight Transportation Data and Trucking Industry Research as well as a panelist for the National Science Foundation and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program

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Breanna Stoesz University of Arkansas

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Abstract

While many STEM outreach programs and college curricula centered on transportation topics focus on the careers of engineers and planners, the roles of front-line workforce of our freight systems (drivers, pilots, and operators) are rarely highlighted. Yet, students may better connect with the impacts of engineering and planning work by witnessing how transportation projects impact front-line workers like truck drivers. Moreover, the trucking industry reports workforce shortages as a top critical issue on annual industry reports. Workforce development, for engineers and planners as well as drivers and pilots (for waterway navigation), is a critical issue that can be addressed in part through specialized outreach initiatives. This project developed an outreach program designed around the popularity and use of driving simulators to enhance outreach efforts for middle and high school student groups for freight career awareness. Many universities and, more recently, public libraries and workforce centers, allow public access to driving simulators. To this effect, more than twenty-five middle school girls through a university sponsored summer camp called, GirlTREC, participated in our driving simulator outreach program. GirlTREC is sponsored by the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC) which is a US Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center.

This work shares the lesson plans and lessons learned in engaging middle school students in driving simulator-based activities. This can be a challenging age for introducing transportation topics and driving simulators, as students are not drivers themselves and typically are unaware of transportation system functions. The central goals of the lesson plans are for students to be able to list transportation careers, identify transportation system challenges, and describe the benefits of transportation systems for everyday life. Active learning approaches included in the lesson plans include brainstorming transportation industry careers and reasons for the current shortage of truck drivers, operating four driving simulators including a truck, forklift, excavator, and car. Despite the difficulty in completing some driving tasks on the simulator, e.g., size and scale of equipment relative to student physiques and lack of knowledge on vehicle operations, the girls noted increased awareness of freight careers as well as an appreciation for the transportation industry. Ultimately, this developed outreach module can be used by any university and/or workforce center equipped with a driving simulator to organize their own outreach events.

Citation
Format

Amankwah-Nkyi, K., & Hernandez, S., & Stoesz, B. (2023, June), Board 37A: Driving Simulators as Educational Outreach for Freight Transportation Paper presented at 2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Baltimore , Maryland. 10.18260/1-2--43069

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - While many STEM outreach programs and college curricula centered on transportation topics focus on the careers of engineers and planners, the roles of front-line workforce of our freight systems (drivers, pilots, and operators) are rarely highlighted.  Yet, students may better connect with the impacts of engineering and planning work by witnessing how transportation projects impact front-line workers like truck drivers. Moreover, the trucking industry reports workforce shortages as a top critical issue on annual industry reports. Workforce development, for engineers and planners as well as drivers and pilots (for waterway navigation), is a critical issue that can be addressed in part through specialized outreach initiatives. This project developed an outreach program designed around the popularity and use of driving simulators to enhance outreach efforts for middle and high school student groups for freight career awareness. Many universities and, more recently, public libraries and workforce centers, allow public access to driving simulators. To this effect, more than twenty-five middle school girls through a university sponsored summer camp called, GirlTREC, participated in our driving simulator outreach program. GirlTREC is sponsored by the Maritime Transportation Research and Education Center (MarTREC) which is a US Department of Transportation Tier 1 University Transportation Center. 

This work shares the lesson plans and lessons learned in engaging middle school students in driving simulator-based activities. This can be a challenging age for introducing transportation topics and driving simulators, as students are not drivers themselves and typically are unaware of transportation system functions. The central goals of the lesson plans are for students to be able to list transportation careers, identify transportation system challenges, and describe the benefits of transportation systems for everyday life. Active learning approaches included in the lesson plans include brainstorming transportation industry careers and reasons for the current shortage of truck drivers, operating four driving simulators including a truck, forklift, excavator, and car.  Despite the difficulty in completing some driving tasks on the simulator, e.g., size and scale of equipment relative to student physiques and lack of knowledge on vehicle operations, the girls noted increased awareness of freight careers as well as an appreciation for the transportation industry. Ultimately, this developed outreach module can be used by any university and/or workforce center equipped with a driving simulator to organize their own outreach events.

AU  - Kwadwo Amankwah-Nkyi
AU  - Sarah Hernandez
AU  - Breanna Stoesz
CY  - Baltimore , Maryland
DA  - 2023/06/25
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Board 37A: Driving Simulators as Educational Outreach for Freight Transportation
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/43069
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--43069
ER  -