The DriveOhio Ambassador Program aims to inspire and educate Ohio high school students about career opportunities in the transportation industry. The program offers students access to online resources, hands-on activities, and real-world experiences to help them develop the skills and knowledge needed to pursue a career in a STEM-related field. Other benefits include earning volunteer or work-based learning hours aligned with the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness Seal, opportunities to earn industry recognized credentials, career networking with Ohio employers, universities, and researchers, and mentoring experience.

The DriveOhio Ambassador Program information sheet provides an overview of the program and its benefits. The program offers students access to online resources, hands-on activities, and real-world experiences to help them develop the skills and knowledge needed to pursue a career in a STEM-related field. Other benefits include earning volunteer or work-based learning hours aligned with the Ohio Means Jobs Readiness Seal and opportunities to earn industry recognized credentials. There will also be opportunities for career networking with Ohio employers, universities, and researchers, and mentoring experience.

A vertiport is a new type of facility for vertical takeoff and landing of various Advanced Air Mobility vehicles, such as drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. You could informally call these “drone airports”. Vertiports will be used for medium and short distance services, including healthcare supply delivery.

Through this hands-on curriculum, students will learn about vertiports, drones, and “advanced air mobility”; brainstorm ideas on how to design a vertiport; identify ways to make a functional, sustainable, and safe design; and build a model of a vertiport from cardboard and loose parts.

In this activity, students will create block code using the DroneBlocks app and will test their code after going through a pre-flight safety check. Students will experiment, test, and modify their code to achieve their desired goals, ultimately drawing connections to smart mobility technology.

Ozobot is an interactive robot designed to help students learn coding and computer science concepts. In this activity, students will create coding maps using markers, and will test their code using Ozobot robots. Students will experiment, test, and modify their code to achieve their desired goals, ultimately drawing connections to autonomous vehicles and other smart mobility technology.

The Future Dream Vehicle activity challenges students to design and build their own model vehicle using everyday materials. Through this activity, students learn about the design process, as well as the different components and technologies that go into creating a modern vehicle.

The Rubber Band Helicopter is a hands-on STEM activity where students build a simple helicopter out of rubber bands, popsicle sticks, and paper, and then test it out to see how it flies.

The “Smart City Adventure” K-12 design challenge tasks students of all grade levels with reimagining their city to embrace new and futuristic mobility technology advancements to improve the movement of people and goods, on the ground and in the air. Improvements can be made in areas such as transportation, safety, accessibility, efficiency, sustainability and more.

Curriculum can be scaled to accommodate a variety of grade bands and learning objectives. For example, educators might choose a single topic area for K–2 or 3–5 students (such as Electric Vehicle Charging Stations), whereas a variety of topics with detailed features could be introduced for 6–8 or 9–12 students. Feel free to contact the DriveOhio workforce team for more ideas!

The Straw Rocket activity is a fun and interactive way for students to learn about the principles of rocket propulsion. Using simple materials like straws, paper, and tape, students design and build their own rockets and test them out to see how far they can fly.

The DriveOhio Educator Toolkit is a collection of free resources and information created by DriveOhio for educators to use to incorporate advanced mobility topics into STEM education and career opportunities. Designed for K-12 and Career Technical Educators, the toolkit includes curriculum and materials; grants and funding; career connections; and professional development resources to interest and engage students in advanced mobility and STEM education through hands-on learning experiences. The curriculum contains lesson plans aligned by grade band and core competency, video demonstrations, and a variety of career opportunities, webinars, and connections. Example topics include electric vehicles, drones, self-driving vehicles, and more.

DriveOhio has compiled multiple resources related to transportation career choices and connections for students that teachers, advisors, or other interested parties can leverage to learn more about the growing field of mobility careers. DriveOhio offers a free webinar series featuring interviews with industry leaders in related mobility fields and allowing for live Q&A sessions with attendees. This content also connects to the Ohio Career Connections Framework, which is a planning tool for Ohio school districts allowing students to develop a vision and strategic career plan. This framework connects affiliated college and career readiness programming allowing students to graduate into high-quality, in-demand occupations.

To support educators in offering immersive, K-12 “hands on” learning, DriveOhio has curated free curriculum organized by educational topic and grade bands. The curriculum activities are scalable, flexible, and modular. Each curriculum topic contains a list of necessary resources and a detailed lesson plan to walk educators through step-by-step. DriveOhio offers a variety of curriculum for topics including: Electric Vehicles and Charging Stations; Automated Vehicles and Delivery Robots; Drones, Advanced Air Mobility, and Vertiports; Connected Vehicles and Intersections; and Smart City Planning. DriveOhio has also compiled extra resources related to the curriculum for both teachers and students to learn more.

The DriveOhio Educator Toolkit Document provides an overview of the program and its benefits. The DriveOhio Educator Toolkit is a collection of free resources and information created by DriveOhio for educators to use to incorporate advanced mobility topics into STEM education and career opportunities. Designed for K-12 and Career Technical Educators, the toolkit includes curriculum and materials; grants and funding; career connections; and professional development resources to interest and engage students in advanced mobility and STEM education through hands-on learning experiences. The curriculum contains lesson plans aligned by grade band and core competency, video demonstrations, and a variety of career opportunities, webinars, and connections. Example topics include electric vehicles, drones, self-driving vehicles, and more.

At DriveOhio, we understand classrooms may not have some items listed in our curriculum overviews. So, we’ve made it easier for educators to find, apply and receive funding for technology, software and other materials that will make our programs even more successful for Ohio’s students. DriveOhio has grant funding available for certain classrooms meeting the funding eligiility and also provides access to a running list of other available grants through a free website.

DriveOhio has developed a fee-free online course for educators and program leaders interested in learning more about the DriveOhio Ambassador program. The course assists in launching an ambassador program in any Ohio School District or afterschool program, including ways to recruit student ambassadors, deploy DriveOhio curriculum, investigate emerging career pathways, and create student networking opportunities. The e-learning course is available online and provides 2 CEU hours.

The DriveOhio Vertiport Innovation Challenge is made possible with support from JobsOhio and a variety of advanced air mobility (AAM) employers and academic partners and provides opportunities for high school and college students to envision the future of air mobility across Ohio. Student teams work with industry mentors to develop proposals that pinpoint solutions and the aviation infrastructure necessary to AAM support operations. After a kickoff presentation, DriveOhio provides support and feedback throughout the challenge.

The Smart Mobility Training Academy is a free eLearning module that will provide information on smart mobility and the DriveOhio Ambassador Program. These courses provide a self-paced resource for training DriveOhio Ambassador Program Advisors and Champions on how to fulfill their recruitment, training, and mentoring roles in the program. Modules include introductory information about the program, how to recruit students and advisors, and guidance on how to train and mentor students.

The Ohio Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) Center offers free eLearning modules to serve as a resource for obtaining your UAS Remote Pilot Certification through the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The four available eLearning modules are the UAS Awareness Course, UAS Remote Pilot Certification Training, UAS Teams Training and UAS Train the Trainer. Completion of the modules does not conclude the FAA UAS Remote Pilot Certification process.