Strengthening Driver Education Curricula New Horizons in Traffic Safety Education TSE Spring Confere

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Strengthening Driver Education CurriculaNew
Horizons in Traffic Safety EducationTSE Spring
Conference, 2002

• Blakely Pomietto
• Center for the Advancement of Public Health
• George Mason University
• David Kinnunen
• OSPI, Traffic Safety Education Department

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What is Adolescence?Focus on Young Adults,
February 2001

• Dynamic change representing the change from
  childhood to adulthood, beginning with puberty
  
• Period of preparation for adulthood
• Furious growth and development
• Exciting opportunities, but new risks
• Development of identity (Who am I?)

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What is Adolescence?World Health Organization

• Progression from appearance of secondary sexual
  characteristics (puberty) to sexual and
  reproductive maturity
  
• Development of adult mental process and identity
• Transition from total social-economic dependence
  to relative independence

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Middle AdolescenceAges 15 19 years old

• Biological
• Continues physical growth, development, and
  sexual maturation
  
• Pace of physical and emotional development in
  relation to peers development is important

• Cognitive
• Desires more control over own life
• Begins to develop own value system
• Thinks in more abstract terms
• Becoming a better judge of own abilities and
  skills
  
• Tends to be idealistic and believe self to be
  invincible

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Middle AdolescenceAges 15 19 years old

• Emotional (contd)
• Develops more advanced problem-solving skills
• Concerned with self-image compared to peers
• May be encourages to participate in rites of
  passage

• Emotional
• Starts to challenge rules and test limits
• Feelings contribute to behavior but do not
  control it
  
• Is less impulsive begins to respond based on
  thoughtful analysis of potential consequences

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Middle AdolescenceAges 15 19 years old

• Family
• May become more removed from family and may seek
  more privacy
  
• Moves away from parents toward peers
• May have children

• Identity
• Has sense of self that is largely shaped by
  peers, although becoming less so
  
• May be struggling with gender identification
• (May be married and under strong influence of
  spouse, relatives)

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Middle AdolescenceAges 15 19 years old

• Social
• Peers influence leisure activities, appearance,
  substance us, and initial sexual behaviors.
  
• Family influences education, career, religious
  values, and beliefs

• Social (contd)
• Relationships are developed and are based on
  mutual expectations and on conformity to group
  norms regarding time apart from spouse and
  children, family obligations, hairstyles, dress,
  music, etc.

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Middle AdolescenceAges 15 19 years old

• Ethics / Morality
• Increases exposure to values and beliefs of
  others
  
• Starts to question own beliefs, which may lead to
  conflicts with parents or family
  
• Begins to develop own set of values

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How Do Changes in Physical Development Affect
Teens?

• Continued brain development
• Teens brains are not completely developed
• Growth spurt of prefrontal cortex at age 9-10
• Pruning of connections/synapses begins at 12
  years
  
• Connections between neurons affecting emotional,
  physical, and mental abilities are incomplete
  
• Process of myelination coating of nerve cells
  not complete until early 20s

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How Do Changes in Physical Development Affect
Teens?

• Sleep longer need about 9.5 hours/night
• May be more clumsy during growth spurt
• Girls may become overly sensitive about weight
• May be concerned because they are not developing
  at the same rate as their peers
  
• May feel awkward about demonstrating affection to
  the opposite sex parent

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How Does Cognitive Development Affect Teens?

• Teens have better thinking skills than younger
  youth
  
• Developing advanced reasoning skills
• Ability to think about multiple options or
  possibilities
  
• More logical thought process and ability to think
  about things hypothetically
  
• Asking and answering the question, what if?

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How Does Cognitive Development Affect Teens?

• Developing abstract thinking skills
• Means thinking about things that cannot be seen,
  heard, or touched
  
• E.g. faith, trust, beliefs, spirituality

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How Does Cognitive Development Affect Teens?

• Developing ability to think about thinking in a
  process known as meta-cognition
  
• Allows individuals to think about how they feel
  and what they are thinking
  
• Involves being able to think about how one is
  perceived by others
  
• Can be used to develop strategies (aka mneumonic
  devices) for improving learning

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How Does Cognitive Development Affect Teens?

• Demonstrate heightened level of
  self-consciousness
  
• Tend to believe that no one else has ever
  experienced similar feelings and emotions
  
• Tend to become very case-oriented
• Tend to exhibit a justice orientation

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How Does Psycho-Social Development Affect Teens?

• Establishing an identity
• Answering the question, Who am I?
• Establishing autonomy
• Becoming an independent and self-governing person
  within relationships
  
• Achievement
• Identifying what they are currently good at and
  areas in which they are willing to strive for
  success

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How Does Psycho-Social Development Affect Teens?

• Begin to spend more time with their friends than
  their families
  
• May begin to keep a journal
• May become involved in multiple hobbies or clubs
• May become more argumentative
• May begin to interact with parents as people

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Characteristics of High Performing Schools

• Implications for Driver and Traffic Safety
  Education

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1. Clear and Shared Focus

• Staff and students share and commit to common
  goals
  
• Shared belief that all students can learn
• Common values and constancy of purpose
• The vision is shared ? everybody knows where they
  are going and why

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1. Clear and Shared Focus

• Who are key players?
• What is the common goal/focus?
• How was this established and communicated?
• What is a good forum for communication?

• Develop a focus that identifies your program and
  what you are all about a mission statement, an
  outcome goal, etc.
  
• Who are other people you need to include?

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2. High Standards and Expectations

• Teachers and staff believe all students can learn
  and meet high standards
  
• Recognition that some students must overcome
  significant barriers
  
• Offered course of study is ambitious and rigorous

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2. High Standards and Expectations

• Whos involved in setting standards?
• Teaching beyond the minimums
• Academic focus vs. licensing focus
• Shared belief that all students can learn and
  meet high standards?

• Why is it important to set standards?
• Discuss your current student standards with
  another program. What ideas can you share and
  learn?

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3. Effective School Leadership

• Effective leadership is required to implement
  change processes
  
• Administrators, teachers, staff and students can
  have different leadership roles and styles
  
• Effective leaders cultivate and nurture an
  instructional program and school culture
  conducive to learning and professional growth

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3. Effective School Leadership

• Who are the leaders in your schools now?
• Who can be leaders?
• Knowing procedures WACs and RCWs
• Inter-organizational and intra-organizational
  communication and leadership

• Plan a workshop for your school/program that
  will include many aspects of program leadership.
  
• What needs to be addressed?
• How can you implement this?

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4. High Levels of Collaboration and
Communication

• Strong teamwork among teachers across all grades
  and with other staff
  
• Everybody is involved and connected
• Includes parents, community members, schools, and
  students
  
• Problem identification and solution development

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4. High Levels of Collaboration and
Communication

• Who collaborates and communicates effectively?
• Are all parties consistent in their messages?
• GDL
• Community involvement

• How can driver traffic safety education be
  incorporated into traditional subject
  disciplines?
  
• How can collaboration and communication improve?

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5. Curriculum, instruction and assessment
aligned with standards

• Agreement between planned and actual curriculum
• Both are aligned with the essential academic
  learning requirements
  
• Use of research based materials and strategies
• Clear understanding of assessment system, what
  measured in various assessments and how its
  measured

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5. Curriculum, instruction and assessment
aligned with standards

• What learning modalities are we targeting?
• Use of innovation
• New or other resources/strategies/ materials
• Alternative learning activities

• Share some ideas with another school or
  program
  
• What new instructional techniques might we
  consider?
  
• What about different activities?

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6. Frequent Monitoring of Learning and Teaching

• Continuous adjustment of teaching and learning
  based on frequent monitoring of student progress
  and needs
  
• Multiple assessments (types and frequency)
• Results used to focus and improve instructional
  programs
  
• Results used to improve student performances

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6. Frequent Monitoring of Learning and Teaching

• Monitoring of student performance and
  instructional performance
  
• New or other resources/strategies/ materials
• Students that need additional support

• Who, what, how, and when are we monitoring?
• How can we teach AND evaluate more effectively
  to achieve goals and standards?

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7. Focused Professional Development

• Strong emphasis on extensive and ongoing
  professional development
  
• Professional development for all educators is
  aligned with the schools and districts common
  focus, objectives, and high expectations
  
• Professional development based on feedback from
  learning and teaching evaluations

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7. Focused Professional Development

• What assumptions do we make/hold?
• What are we doing to advance knowledge and
  expertise as individuals? As part of our field?
  
• Professional memberships

• Do we have a medium for sharing best
  practices?
  
• What are we doing to contribute?
• What professional standards are applied to you?

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8. Supportive Learning Environment

• School has a safe, civil, healthy, and
  intellectually stimulating learning environment.
  
• Students feel respected and connected with the
  staff
  
• Students are engaged in learning
• Instruction is personalized
• Small learning environments increase student
  contact with teachers

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8. Supportive Learning Environment

• What are we going to reach young people where
  they are?
  
• Environment respects dynamic qualities of the
  students, challenge is consistent with
  development
  
• New and emerging ideas/strategies

• How is your program (or could it be)
  incorporating safety? Civility? Technology?
  Personalization?
  
• What are new ideas we can explore to strengthen
  the learning environment?

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9. High Level of Parent and Community
Involvement

• Sense that all have a responsibility to educate
  students, not just teachers and staff in schools
  
• Parents, businesses, social service
  organizations, and community colleges/universities
  all play a vital role
  
• Shared ownership of concerns and responsibility

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9. High Level of Parent and Community
Involvement

• Who are key people with interests in generating
  safe young drivers?
  
• Do students understand their role and the
  implications of their responsibilities?

• How is each group engaged in the effort
• Parents? Youth? Community?
• Identify available resources in WA how can they
  be used in achieving your goals?