2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

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.