01128871

Component

National Engineers Week 2008 was celebrated around the country February 17?23. The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LA DOTD) recognized the importance of this effort and developed a week long special event - TIMED to Explore Engineering. As national studies showed that only 10 percent of the engineering workforce is made up of women, LA DOTD chose to engage middle school girls with the special event program. The E-Week events offered the opportunity to launch a community education and outreach program that would bring additional awareness to the state?s largest transportation program, Louisiana?s TIMED Program. The goals of this project are to (1) Further awareness of the Louisiana TIMED Program by executing a series of events during National Engineers Week. (2) Encourage at least 300 middle school girls to explore engineering by hosting events at four public schools. (3) Support Louisiana public schools by providing math and science curriculum aides and activities. (4) Research and develop materials to support the event and best cater to the demographic. (5) Use the E-Week special event as a launch of the TIMED to Explore Engineering educational program statewide. This special event was designed as an educational awareness and outreach program to demonstrate to female students from all backgrounds that engineering is an exciting career path. Strategies included: (a) Using the E-Week Foundation ?Discover Engineering? video showing engineers working to help children have clean water in other counties. (b) Share the experiences of a female engineer working in a primarily male environment. (c) Give the girls an understanding of the kind of skills and thought processes involved in engineering by having a Jenga game competition, a game of removing blocks from a stack of building blocks without the stack/tower collapsing. (d) Leave the girls with a promotional item and a printed brochure to carry the message further. (e) Utilize the Web to engage youth to stay engaged in the messaging and the efforts. The primary target audience is middle school girls in Louisiana public schools. Primary audience was used in developing event activities and promotional items. The secondary target audience of middle aged school youth was used for developing print and Web materials. Approximately 500 girls in 7th and 8th grades participated in the LA DOTD E-Week events. The students were surveyed before the events were held to determine their interest in engineering and then surveyed again after the events to gauge whether the special event was a success in increasing their interest in engineering and whether or not they would consider engineering as a career choice. The students were also able to give feedback about the special event itself. Before the presentation, 99 students stated that they were not interested in engineering, with 53 students expressing some form of interest. After the presentation only 34 students were not interested, with 77 students now showing an interest in engineering. Ninety-two percent of students found the events interesting and when asked what needed to be changed, the majority of the students said nothing needed to be changed. The survey results confirmed the special event was successful beyond the goals set by the LA DOTD. The events held during E-Week kicked off the Timed to Explore Engineering program and additional events are now being held for other groups and organizations. New interactive games have been developed, additional speakers have been recruited and the schedule of events continues to expand. The success of the initial event sparked interest and credibility for the program and it continues to education and inspire Louisiana youth to explore engineering, while increasing awareness for the state?s largest transportation program, the TIMED Program. The special event received local and regional media coverage. The special event was supported by a Web site www.timedla.com/explore, echoing the message. The special event was enhanced by a customized MySpace page for TIMED to Explore Engineering. Invitations to "friend" the TIMED Program were on both survey forms and a fact sheet given to each student. More than 600 youth have visited the Web sites, where they had access to additional information on engineering as a career.

01120148

09-0136

English

2p

2009

Transportation Research Board 88th Annual Meeting

DVD

Demographics; Females; Recruiting; Research; Transportation engineering; Workforce

Middle schools

Louisiana

Administration and Management; Education and Training; Highways; I10: Economics and Administration

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2009 Paper #09-0136

TRIS, TRB

Jan 30 2009 4:23PM