Driving Towards Your Future – bESTology Week 12

Image: chacha.com

Driving Towards Your Future – bESTology Week 12

A future career could place you at the helm, in the driver’s seat, behind the wheel or navigating with a joystick.  Engineers design, develop and deliver cars, trucks, trains, planes or ships but it takes a talented and knowledgeable operator to lawfully and safely control, steer and arrive at the final destination.

Often we see the “big” picture but never take the time to explore the minute details of the laws and regulations that impact the route that a ship’s captain, a truck’s driver, a train’s engineer or a plane’s pilot must follow.

Grab ahold of the steering wheel – full speed ahead.

Resources:

• Instrumentation and Flight
• Navigate towards a Nautical Career
• Chugging along to become a Train Engineer
• Keep on Trucking
• Sea Captain Licensing and Employment – Wikipedia
• Aeronautical Pilot Licensing and Employment – Wikipedia
• Railroad Engineer – Wikipedia
• Truck Driver Licensing and Regulations – Wikipedia
• U.S. Department of Labor
• Explore Career Choices at My Next Move
• OSHA and the Trucking Industry
• OSHA and the Maritime Industry
• OSHA and the Airline Industry
• SurveyMonkey
• Skype

Brainstorming:

Brainstorm and create a chart showing the types of licenses or certifications required to become a captain, truck driver, railroad engineer or pilot.  Continue researching and listing the types of training/schooling required, salaries, responsibilities, and rules/regulations associated with each occupation.  Generate a hypothesis of how much the average person knows or understands about each of the above occupations.  Once your brainstorming chart is complete, continue to the next activity to test your hypothesis.

Writing: 

The “T” in BEST stands for TECHNOLOGY, therefore using the data from the brainstorming activity, design an online survey.  SurveyMonkey, a free online tool, can be used to survey classmates, friends and family.  The survey should be designed to gather data of each participant’s knowledge surrounding the careers of a captain, truck driver, railroad engineer and pilot.  Include the answers of each question at the end of the survey to ensure the activity was a learning experience for each participant.  Analyze the results using the SurveyMonkey analysis tool and share your findings with your classmates.  Be sure to include whether your hypothesis was correct and what you learned from this activity.

BEST Robot:

Just like a captain, truck driver, railroad engineer or pilot, a robot driver must know all of the game rules (laws), field rules (regulations), equipment (robot), safety (what happens in an emergency), type of cargo that must transported, etc.  BEST robot drivers are in the driver’s seat or at the helm!   As we prepare for Bladerunner, generate an employment application for the team members interested in becoming a robot driver.  Reflect on real-world robot drivers who operate military drones, underwater-unmanned vehicles, search and rescue robots, etc., and determine how the employment applications would look similar.  Remember, robot drivers need to be the BEST of the BEST!

Community Connection: 

Remembering the “T” in BEST stands for TECHNOLOGY, use Skype, a free online communication tool to arrange online interviews with a captain, truck driver, railroad engineer and a pilot. Using your brainstorming chart, generate a list of questions for each online guest.  Be sure to share with each guest what you have learned about his or her occupation and invite him or her to become an honorary team member on Bladerunner Game Day.

(Note:  There are many online communication tools in addition to Skype.  Choose one of your choice and let the conversations begin!)

Bloom’s Taxonomy:  analyze, arrange, brainstorm, chart, create, determine, discuss, gather, generate, hypothesize, include, invite, list, reflect, research, share, write

Workforce Skills:  reading comprehension, active listening, critical thinking, speaking, active learning, writing, equipment selection, operation analysis