Examples of Hands-On Service-Learning Projects
We encourage students to be innovative and creative in their implementation of an inclusive transportation service-learning project but keeping it aligned with curriculum and content standards to the maximum extent possible. We hope students will use such technologies as photo voice, YouTube, and other social media to capture and document their journey to learn about and access public transportation. We hope that these projects can be woven back into curriculum. Here are some suggestions for project activities.
Create their own experiment—test transportation from different peoples’ perspectives, (i.e., from people with different abilities). Make it as hands-on as possible.
Interview transit operators and drivers about their experiences in providing inclusive transportation.
Go to intersections, bus stops, transportation centers, ride the different transportation options and develop a format to share what was learned.
Compare different types of maps—what kinds work for what kind of learners/abilities. Do new formats need to be made?
Develop awareness-raising materials about transportation options for families, educators, and other school personnel.
Create materials and tools for transit operators that help them understand student needs.
Encourage connections across high-school and higher-education settings around accessible transportation.
Explore buses—do the drivers announce stops, what are the visual displays like, what is the noise level, and who is the primary ridership?
Examine transportation schedules, do they serve the whole community, are the times transit is available workable with the schedules of students and/or those needing the transportation, does the bus run to the locations needed—schools,
shopping and other social venues, hospitals/health care?
Assess crossing signals. Do they include sound? What colors are they? How do the call buttons feel to the touch?
Address social issues that come up when using transportation—how to talk and ask questions, explore personal boundary issues.
Explore mobility management. What is it? What do other communities have? What is missing in your community? What are the costs and benefits? Create a map of the mobility options in your community.
Work with the aging community. There is much to learn from how the aging community manages transportation.
Explore if and how transportation for youth differs from that of transportation for adults.
Conduct a pedestrian road safety audit to identify potential problems and barriers, and identify opportunities for improving pedestrian safety (http://www.vtpi.org/tdm/tdm69.htm).
