LEGO Robotics Vehicle Lesson Plans for Secondary Education
Past Events
October 26, 2012 - One-Day Workshop at the Cade Museum - Gainesville FL
February 15, 2013 - One-Day Workshop at the Cade Museum - Gainesville FL
Upcoming Events
July 17, 2013 - One-Day Workshop at the Cade Museum - Gainesville, Fl
As robotics have gained popularity as a teaching tool, the Transportation Research Center at the University of Florida has developed a curriculum for middle school age students utilizing LEGO® robotics to foster interest in transportation engineering as a career choice. These flexible modules can be used in afterschool programs, classrooms, homeschooling, and at camps. The modules focus on the three major areas of the STRIDE consortium: safety, livable communities and economic competitiveness using a significant area of the future of transportation—intelligent vehicles (the programmable robot) as a learning tool. The lesson plans include:
- What do Transportation Engineers do?
- LEGO Education Software Tutorials for an Intelligent Vehicle
- Congestion Mitigation Programming Exercise
- Following a Route and Calculating Travel Time Exercise
- Pedestrian and Vehicle Detection Exercise. The five lesson plans can be downloaded at http://www.t2ctt.ce.ufl.edu/lego
Middle-school students are at the ideal age to be introduced to this level of transportation engineering because the math and science curriculum provides the support tools to understand the more complex concepts. Middle school students participate in science fairs and in math and science clubs. By sparking an interest in and creating awareness for transportation engineering and engineering in general, these activities will help influence a student’s choice for high school classes, college and eventually, a career.
For more information on the course material or to schedule a course in the Gainesville Florida area, please contact:
Leslie D. Washburn, PE
University of Florida
K-12 STRIDE Workforce Development Coordinator
leslie@ce.ufl.edu To schedule a course in the Miami, Florida area
Berrin Tansel, PhD, PE
Florida International University
Department of Civil & Environmental Eng.
(305) 348 2928
tanselb@fiu.edu To schedule a course in the Raleigh, North Carolina
James B. Martin, PE
North Carolina State University
(919).515.8620
jbm@ncsu.edu