From Play to Pathways: Building Transportation Awareness in Early Learners

Workforce development focuses on ensuring an industry has the diverse, qualified workers it needs to succeed. In recent years, the transportation industry has struggled to recruit and retain its workforce, especially as the industry faces massive upheavals due to the pandemic, evolving technology, and climate change. Although preschool-aged children are obviously far from searching for a job anytime soon, they, their families, their communities, and the industry can benefit from implementing developmentally appropriate curricula that lay the groundwork for future opportunities to help them pursue their educational, career, and life goals. A recent collaboration between MTI and a cooperative preschool explored what it would mean to integrate transportation-inspired curriculum and career exploration into Pre-K classrooms. This perspective demonstrates that Including play-based, developmentally appropriate career exploration—especially with STEM-based learning—can empower an equality of opportunity that will let children form their own identities and help them authentically answer that all-important question: What do you want to be when you grow up?

The curriculum is available for free here.