Use of Mobile Technologies in
Attracting K-12 to Transportation
Alice Grossman, Atiyya Shaw, Prabha (Popa) Pratyaksa,
Aaron Greenwood, Randall Guensler, Yanzhi (Ann) Xu
TRB Education and Training Committee Webinar, July 1, 2015
Objectives for use of Technology
in K-12 outreach
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Identify and explain topics in transportation using
familiar and new technologies
Collect data:
– Traditional manual methods
– New digital technologies
Analyze data:
– Generate of analytical graphs, charts, and maps
– Basic descriptive statistics (standard software)
Design and give a presentation that effectively
communicates each step of the research process
Centennial Place Academy Partners
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86% African American, 5% Caucasian, 2% Asian, 3%
Hispanic, 4% Multi-racial
Title 1 School (71% free/reduced lunch programs)
Draws student population from the Centennial Place
neighborhood and surrounding communities,
including two shelters
1st Atlanta Public School
system charter school
conversion
Emphasis on
project-based learning
Women and Minorities
in Engineering
Encourage young women and minorities to consider
engineering from a young age
Science and Engineering Degrees
Earned by Underrepresented Minorities
Low Participation Fields for Women
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Charts from nsf.gov
NOTE: Data not available for 1999
SOURCE: Women, Minorities, and
Persons with Disabilities in Science in
Engineering
Technologies Employed
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Projects include the use of new Georgia Tech smart
phones and tablet applications for data collection
Students analyze data using standard software to
familiarizes students with computational methods
Researchers analyze the same data, developing more
complex models software, and share outputs with
students to enhance their understand of benefits of
using advanced computational methods
Tablet Software
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Sidewalk Sentry Android App (Akanser et al., 2015)
- records video, accelerometer readings, gyroscope
data, and GPS position
Vehicle Counting Android App
- point and touch system to count vehicles on video
Sidewalk Sentry app records
sidewalk video, GPS, and
vibration data
Traffic counting app
screen shot
Commute Warrior Software
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The Commute Warrior Android app collects secondby-second position and speed data and the electronic
travel diary allows users to input trip purpose and
other data through the app interface or web page
(Akanser et al., 2015)
Accessibility of Research
Technology to Future Work Force
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Research topics encompass aspects of everyday life
Students experience field data collection
– Familiar tools (smartphones, tablets, computers)
Data visualization (creating and interpreting charts)
Develop engineering skill sets:
– Research design
– Organization and planning
– Field data collection and teamwork
– Critical thinking and mathematics
– Oral and written communication
Outreach Program Framework
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One two-hour long session in May, 2014 with the
entire 5th grade class (82 students)
– Overview presentation
– Spilt into three groups for module activities
 Mode choice – computer modeling
 Travel diaries – smart phone apps
 Accessibility – tablet app and smart levels
– Full group summary and discussion session
Two full-day sessions in October 2014 with 19
returning students (now in 6th grade)
A few examples….
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Short Module:
Paper vs. Electronic Travel Diaries
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Students completed paper diaries
from memory
Compared paper diary with
Smartphone automatic GPS data
collection survey features
Discussions revealed students’
interest in use of technology, ease,
and higher resolution of data in
Commute Warrior
Full Day Module: Pedestrian
Accessibility
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This module brought students to three different
locations in their school environment to measure
aspects of pedestrian accessibility
Module objectives:
– Experience how people with
limited mobility use pedestrian
facilities
– Learn how to use tape measures
smart levels, and tablet apps
to collect data
– Analyze and present data
Full Day Module:
Traffic Engineering
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Objectives:
 Introduce field of traffic
engineering and its
significance in daily life
 First-hand experience in
performing traffic counts
 Introduce common
vehicle count data
collection techniques
 Direct comparison of
manual vs. digital
methods
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Engage with hands-on
activities using tablets
and computer-based
traffic simulation
Traffic Engineering Presentations
Each small group created and executed a PowerPoint
presentation with the participation of every student
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Conclusions
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Exposure
– Engaged women and minorities in STEM
– Multiple aspects of the transportation discipline
– Research uses with familiar technology
Application of mobile technologies
– Developed in on-going Georgia Tech research
– Used in all stages of research process (data
collection, analysis, communicating results)
Materials are transferable
– http://transportation.ce.gatech.edu
Thank You
We would like to acknowledge the research team
members working on Vehicle counting, Sidewalk
Sentry, Sidewalk Scout, and Commute Warrior
Our gratitude also goes to the GT student chapters of
ITE and WTS and to our generous project funders at
the Southeastern Transportation Research, Innovation,
Development, and Education Center (STRIDE) and
Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT)
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Questions?
transportation.ce.gatech.edu/education
“Wheelchairs and Supershoes”
The Commute Warrior travel diary smart phone application for
Androids is available on the Google Play Store.
A supplementary sidewalk data collection application, Sidewalk
Scout is available for both Android and iPhone smartphones in
the Google Play Store and Apple Store
Alice Grossman
agrossman3@gatech.edu
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