Transportation Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) Resources

PREK-12 STEM ACTIVITIES

The ITE STEM Committee has developed these transportation-related STEM activities to generate awareness and excitement in PreK-12 students around career choices within the transportation industry.

We WELCOME new activities ideas and content! Send activity ideas along to STEM@ite.org.

Jump to Preschool / Elementary Activities

Jump to Middle School Activities

Jump to High School Activities

Featured Activity

All Ages - Transportation Search - Find and answer questions about transportation features with this neighborhood scavenger hunt.

Activities for All Ages
	All Ages - Transportation Search Find and answer questions about transportation features with this neighborhood scavenger hunt.
	Elementary-High School - Traffic Design with Nature and RC Cars Understand how design of a road affects the ability of vehicles to maneuver (horizontal and vertical features, obstacles, lane width, etc.). This is also an exercise in design and presentation skills for older students.
	Preschool and Elementary Activities
	Preschool and Elementary – Transportation Line Up Measure the lengths of toy vehicle queues in English and metric units.
	Preschool and Elementary – Traffic Waves with Marbles Understand and experience waves as they exist in traffic through marble modeling.
	Elementary Activities
	Elementary - Traffic Sign Obstacle Course Follow the directions on signs and other traffic control devices to get through the obstacle course and end up at school.
	Elementary – Snow Plowing Students use homemade “snow” on a typical city street section to learn that snowplow operators must do their work in a specific way so that all users can travel after a storm.
	Elementary – Streets Have Personality Game Students take on a persona and act out how they would travel on different street examples. After each turn acting, the class has the chance to discuss implications.
	Elementary - Traffic Counts and Signal Timing Learn how to count traffic at an intersection and how that relates with signal timing and the operation of an intersection.
	Elementary - Intersection Safety Learn about the different types of traffic control devices. Understand how they help people to safely enter and exit intersections.
	Elementary – Friction and Ramps Determine the angle and material covering on a ramp that results in a vehicle’s moving the fastest.
	Elementary/Middle School Activities
	Elementary/Middle – Pedestrian Signal Timing Understand how the pedestrian “Walk” and “Flashing Don’t Walk” intervals should accommodate pedestrians of all ages with different characteristics, through role playing.
	Middle School Activities
	Middle - Paying Tolls Find out how the way payments are collected on a tolled roadway affects congestion and air pollution.
	Middle - Traveling Around Town Develop a plan to improve the multimodal transportation network in a fictional town.
	Middle - Can I Stop In Time? Determine and measure for yourself the distance it takes to get a car to come to a complete stop based on various conditions.
	Middle - Traffic Engineering Equipment See and be part of an interactive display of some of the tools of the trade for transportation and traffic engineering.
	Middle - Sign the Way Learn about the types of signs transportation engineers use to convey information to drivers and how drivers see signs at night.
	Middle - Points of Conflict Determine the number of conflict points and the average potential collision angles for different intersection designs.
	Middle - Analyzing Traffic Counts of an Intersection Learn how to analyze traffic counts at an intersection.
	Middle – Hallway Congestion Observe, measure, and quantify the interaction between pedestrian density and travel speed in a hallway.
	High School Activities
	High - Circles, Arcs, and Tangents: the Geometry of Our Roadways Did you know that all roadways consist of circles, arcs, and tangents?
	High - Roundabouts vs. All-Way Stop-Controlled Intersections Let students "be the vehicle" and learn how to navigate through various intersection types to compare and contrast the vehicle flow capacity of each.
	High - Transportation and Climate Change Action Hour Students will conduct online research to learn more about a topic related to transportation and climate change and present their findings with a call to action based on their findings.
	High - Transportation Trends and Tech Research Conduct online research to learn more about a topic of interest related to transportation trends and technologies.
	High – Considering the Safety Benefits of Autonomous Vehicles Conduct online research to learn more about the safety benefits at each level of autonomous driving.