Context based learning (CBL) is a powerful tool that utilises areas of student interest framed in meaningful contexts to foster development of new skills and understanding. For middle school students, engineering activities that relate to real-world problems provide suitable CBL contexts for acquiring conceptual scientific and mathematical…

Sixty-seven deaths per week, nine per day, one every two hours: Motor-vehicle crashes are the number one killer of teenagers in the United States, and although fatalities have declined in recent years, almost 3,500 teenagers still die every year in motor vehicle crashes (NHTSA 2011). In fact, 35% of all deaths among 16- to 19-year-olds are…

Recent efforts in engineering education focus on introducing engineering into secondary math and science courses to improve science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education (NAS, 2010). Infusing engineering into secondary classrooms can increase awareness of and interest in STEM careers, help students see the relevance of science and…

In the 20th century's final decades, advances in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases sharply reduced the child death rate. Despite this progress, the child death rate in the U.S. remains higher than in many other wealthy nations. The under-five mortality rate in the U.S. is almost three times higher than that of Iceland and Sweden…

Children and adults who must remain seated in their wheelchairs while traveling are often at a disadvantage in terms of crash safety. The new voluntary wheelchair industry standard WC19 (short for Section 19 of the ANSI/RESNA wheelchair standards) works to close the safety gap by providing design and performance criteria and test methods to assess…

Objects in motion attract children. The following activity helps children explore the motion of bodies riding in a vehicle and safely demonstrates the answer to their questions, "Why do I need a seatbelt?" Children will enjoy moving the cup around, even if all they "see" is a cup rather than understanding it represents a car. They will understand…

Transportation is an important issue to consider when operating a program for the young. Children must be able to get to school, gym, church, or where the care is being provided, and back home. If the parent provides the ride for their own child, everything is fine. If an organization assumes responsibility for getting children to and from a…

Over the past year, a team of transportation engineers, product designers, and therapists has been writing a series of articles about wheelchair transportation safety in partnership with "EP." These experts understand the importance of transportation for social inclusion, maintaining health, and being able to get to school and work. Previous…

The centerpiece of the University of Michigan's Transportation Research Institute (UMTRI) Sled Lab is "the impact sled," as it is called in the business. It's the business of conducting sled impact tests, perhaps better known as crash tests, on all types of wheelchairs and wheelchair seating systems as well as wheelchair tiedowns and…

Riding on a school bus is one of the safest forms of transportation in the U.S. Every year 450,000 public school buses travel more than 4.3 billion miles to transport 23.5 million children to and from school and school related activities. Students are reportedly eight times safer on the school bus than they are in cars. However, the percentage of…

Safe transportation for wheelchair users who do not transfer to the vehicle seat when traveling in motor vehicles requires after-market wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraint systems (WTORS) to secure the wheelchair and provide crashworthy restraint for the wheelchair-seated occupant. In the absence of adequate government safety standards,…

The Kansas City Missouri Public Schools through Title IV, Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program was awarded a grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation to focus on the reduction of underage drinking and driving and seatbelt compliance and distracted driving. The grant focused on educating JROTC staff and School Resource…

This is the first of a series of six articles on the topic of transportation safety for wheelchair-seated travelers and will highlight some of the basic issues and principles that have been considered in the development of voluntary standards for wheelchair tiedown and occupant restraints systems (WTORS) as well as for wheelchairs that are used as…

The responsibility for providing safe transportation for travelers seated in wheelchairs is shared by many stakeholders, including wheelchair and tiedown/restraint manufacturers, vehicle modifiers and equipment installers, transit providers, rehabilitation technology suppliers, wheelchair/seating clinicians, and even informed and responsible…

"Alabama Education News" is published monthly except for June, July, and December by the Alabama Department of Education. This publication, authorized by Section 16-2-4 of the "Code of Alabama", as recompiled in 1975, is a public service of the Alabama Department of Education designed to inform citizens and educators about…