Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab introduces East Tennessee students and teachers to transportation technology
Students and teachers got a hands-on look at emerging transportation technologies this week through the Advanced Mobility Innovation Lab, a program designed to inspire future careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The University of Tennessee Center for Transportation Research hosted the final day of its three-day teacher camp at Johnson University. The event brought together teachers from Cocke County and students from Emerald Youth’s Johnson Royals Explorers program to explore transportation technologies through interactive demonstrations.
Participants rotated through five stations focused on electric vehicles, autonomous vehicles, traffic signal technology, LiDAR sensors and drones.
Jerry Everett, associate director of the UT Center for Transportation Research, said the program aims to connect transportation research with STEM education while reaching students who may have limited exposure to advanced technologies.
“The whole point of our program is really to focus on rural students who often don’t have chances at learning about advanced technologies, and what we want to do is to use advanced transportation technologies to get them excited about both STEM education. And then to get them excited about the possibility of pursuing a career in STEM or in transportation,” Everett said.
Teachers spent three days learning about the technologies and discussing ways to incorporate them into classroom lessons.
“Teachers, of course, they’re educated based on how to teach, whereas we know that technologies are advancing so rapidly, especially in areas like transportation and other areas that are related to STEM. So what we’re trying to do is to help teachers stay up with current research,” Everett said.
Daniel Madden, a seventh-grade history and science teacher in Cocke County, said the camp provided insight into technologies many people encounter every day without fully understanding how they work.
Read the full article at wbir.com