Director's Statement |
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Among the University Transportation Centers across the nation, The Center for Transportation and Environmental Education (TEE-21) is unique in two very important respects. First, it is set within the context of a small, liberal arts college and the Center's programs are designed to reflect Assumption's liberal arts educational mission. Second, the Center's programs are designed to contribute to our young people's understanding of the important issues they will face in making their transportation decisions as adults in this century. The education of our youth (K-12) on issues surrounding the relationship between transportation and the environment is our concern, the development and dissemination of education, science and social studies curricula that incorporate that relationship is our task. We welcome the opportunity given us by the University Transportation Center Program to demonstrate that a liberal arts college has a unique and needed contribution to make in partnership with its more technically oriented sister institutions under the umbrella of the US Department of Transportation's Research and Special Programs Administration. |
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| Since its inception two years ago, TEE-21 has dedicated itself to creating pedagogical strategies that incorporate the study of interactions between transportation and both the natural and built environments for teachers K-12 in its programs of education, research and technology transfer. Among Assumption’s faculty and students it sponsors the development of undergraduate, graduate and continuing education courses of study that embody the Center’s theme. Workshops modeling pedagogical strategies as well as courses using our theme carry graduate and continuing education credit for teachers. Interdisciplinary research is encouraged not only between academic disciplines but also between teachers, environmentalists and transportation professionals. Two types of research are funded by the Center. The first is scientific research within the field that can demonstrate reasonable transfer opportunities and, in addition, can be understood, is relevant to and can be utilized by teachers and administrators in grades K-12. The second is curricular research designed to develop innovative materials and methods for incorporating an examination of transportation and environmental issues in grades K-12. Research program results are presented at an annual conference and published on the Center’s web site. The web site itself is designed as a national resource for teachers who wish to explore the use of our theme in their classrooms. The culminating event of our first year was the Awards Reception, 28 April 2000, when the Center’s first research grants were presented to nine teachers, environmentalists and transportation professionals. Eight of these projects were successfully completed over the course of this year (the ninth requested and received an extension), and this year’s culminating event was the Center’s first research conference held on 2 June 2001. Teachers, students, environmentalists and transportation professionals gathered to hear and discuss the variety of ways in which the Center’s theme was incorporated into science, math and social studies classrooms K-12. Those attending the conference were pleased with the results of this first year’s research efforts, results that provide models for incorporating the Center’s theme in classrooms across the nation. This year’s Awards Reception was held on 4 May 2001 when ten awards were made. The research selected for support in the coming year represents a greater variety in projects and greater regional diversity than those in our first year. The viability of our Center’s mission is clearly demonstrated in the successful completion of our first year’s research program and in the creative range of the projects supported for the coming year. Our second year has seen a robust exploration of the implications of our mission and of our four-year strategic plan. To demonstrate the possibilities of teaching with our theme, the Center, the Providence & Worcester Railroad, the Blackstone Valley Education Network and the Heritage Corridor Commission joined to sponsor a professional development program for Worcester teachers. Over 150 middle and high school teachers from Worcester’s public schools boarded a Providence & Worcester train that had been transformed into a series of educational workshops and traveled to Woonsocket, RI and back. Aboard the train and in Woonsocket teachers learned of the wide variety of educational resources available in the river valley. To expose teachers and their students to the transportation industry and related environmental issues, on 25 May the Center sponsored a Transportation Career Expo at Worcester’s Union Station with some twenty-one exhibitors and over eight hundred visitors. Over the course of the year members of our education and natural science departments with environmental consultants prepared the Center’s first interdisciplinary summer institute for science teachers. The institute was organized to model a method of using field-conducted experiments with road water runoff in their science and math classrooms. The success of our outreach efforts over the past two years and developing confidence in the Center’s commitment to its theme have begun to evidence themselves throughout the region and nationally. The Center’s associate director was invited to present at this year’s meeting of the Technology Educators Association of Massachusetts (TEAM). The director and associate director have been invited to participate in a variety of school-to-work initiatives including Worcester’s Engineering Pipeline Collaborative, Rhode Island’s School-to-Career program and the International Brotherhood of Teamster’s Peer Technical Assistance Network. Because of his concern for the impact of highway design and construction on the built environment, Commissioner Matthew Amorello of the Massachusetts Highway Department has asked the Center director to chair his Working Group on Design Issues in the hopes that MassHighway can join the many state DOTs committed to context sensitive design. Because of the Center’s partnership with the John H. Chaffee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor Commission and the initial selection of the river valley as the teaching/research laboratory in explorations of the Center’s theme, the Center has been asked to participate in the development of an interactive exhibition on transportation within the valley for teachers and their students at the Rhode Island Harbor Heritage Museum in Providence, RI. Finally, with the Center’s known interest in the various ways in which transportation impacts both the natural and built environments, the Center has been asked to take part in restoring Worcester’s Union Station to its former role as a major intermodal facility for central Massachusetts. Each of these associations are further opportunities for internships, case studies, research and curriculum development. |
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Through programs of research, education and technology transfer,
the University Transportation Center at Assumption College
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Last updated:
July 29, 2002
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