STRIDE at UF Hosts Teacher Workshop on Exploring Transportation & STEM

STRIDE at UF Hosts Teacher Workshop on Exploring Transportation & STEM

Teachers in a classroom during STRIDE teacher workshop.
STRIDE K-12 coordinator Ondine Wells speaks to teachers about the engineering design concept.

Ten teachers from Alachua County in Florida attended a one-day workshop at the University of Florida on June 6, 2019 that focused on science and technology concepts for grades levels 4th through 7th and explored transportation as a career option.

Teachers heard about the latest in transportation research taking place at UF from faculty and student researchers who spoke about their work in the areas of planning, human factors, occupational therapy, civil engineering, and computer engineering. The workshop also included a trip to the Gainesville-Alachua County Traffic Management Center where teachers saw first-hand how traffic engineers and technicians work together to ensure that traffic is flowing smoothly and lights are working properly. STEM activities were the focus of the afternoon session, and were led by the STRIDE Center’s K-12/Technology Transfer coordinator, Ondine Wells, who was also the organizer of the workshop. Standards-based activities included building a bridge and testing reaction time. Teachers also learned about a variety of transportation-related community and on-line resources they can incorporate into their classroom.

View a recording of faculty and student researcher presentations [click here]

View workshop flier [click here]

View workshop agenda [click here]

For more information on the STRIDE Center’s K-12 program, contact Ondine Wells, M.S., STRIDE K-12/Technology Transfer Coordinator, owells@ufl.edu, (352) 294-6952.

See various images from the workshop below.