The goal of this project is to supplement traditional teaching methods in Transportation Engineering with well-designed and novel games. The project follows a cyclic approach to the design and implementation of games for several transportation engineering classes, creating curriculum modules that combine the games, assignments and student assessments. These modules are being evaluated for their effectiveness in promoting student learning gains and engagement in transportation engineering. The curriculum modules are being shared through a website that can be used by faculty members at other universities. The focus of this project is not only on developing the tools, but also on increasing educators understanding of students' learning outcomes and effective game teaching methods. The intellectual merit of the project includes creating new pedagogical methods for teaching critical concepts in transportation engineering. The instructional modules are being developed in tandem with assessment in order to produce effective learning tools that will improve engineering education for transportation engineering programs. The broader impacts include increased understanding of critical driver behavior and other transportation issues that can reduce a significant percentage of crashes and save lives.
