IUP Safety and Driver Education Courses
HP 251 – Foundations of Safety and Emergency Health Care (3 semester hours)
This course is offered every fall semester and the first five-week session of summer school. It involves three lecture hours.
This course introduces the student to the foundations of safety, which involves accident prevention and injury control. It examines the four classes of accidents (motor vehicle, work, home, and public) and it allows the student to identify causes and plan countermeasures from both a preventive and mitigative standpoint. The course will also provide training in emergency health care, which will include American Red Cross certification in (1) Standard First Aid, (2) Community CPR, (3) Introduction to Health Services Education, (4) Instructor of Standard First Aid, and (5) Instructor of Community CPR.
There are no prerequisites for this course, and it is recommended that it be taken early in the student's program.
HP 252 – Introduction to the Driving Task (3 Semester Hours)
This course is offered every fall semester and the first five-week session of summer school. It involves two lecture hours and two laboratory hours.
This course provides an in-depth, thorough treatment of operating a motor vehicle competently in all major variations and under most conditions encountered within the traffic environment. A competent operator is considered to be one who performs the total driving task knowledgeably, skillfully, and desirably (with respect to behavioral characteristics), demonstrating full understanding and application of the identification, prediction, and decision process.
The prerequisite for this class is the student must possess a valid driver’s license and have a minimum of three years driving experience.
HP 353 – Driving Education Program Management (3 Semester Hours)
This course is offered every spring semester and the second five-week session of summer school. It involves three lecture hours.
This course will prepare prospective driver education teachers to plan, teach, and evaluate the driver education classroom instructional mode. Actual experience of teaching high school students in supervised laboratory sessions is provided.
The prerequisite for this class is the student to have successfully completed HP251 and HP252 and possess a valid driver’s license with a minimum of three years driving experience.
HP 354 – Application of Driver Education Instructional Modes (3 Semester Hours)
This course will prepare prospective driver education teachers to plan, teach, and evaluate the driver education instructional modes (simulation, multiple-car driving range, and on street). Actual experience of teaching high school students in supervised laboratory sessions is provided.
The prerequisite for this class is that the student to have successfully completed HP251 and HP252 and possess a valid driver’s license with a minimum of three years driving experience.
IUP/HSC(HPED) Safety and Driver Education Courses
Teacher Certification in Safety/Driver Education
Through cooperative effort with IUP’s Department of Health and Physical Education, the Highway Safety Center coordinates and directs IUPS’s Teacher Certification Program in Safety/Driver Education. Certification in Driver Education may be added to a valid Pennsylvania Instructional Certificate with the completion of four courses. Praxis test is required. Completion of courses will also enable those not seeking a four-year degree to become certified to teach commercially. Testing is required at the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Public schools may offer the classroom phase of safety/driver education during regular school hours and the behind-the-wheel phase after school hours. Public schools may contract out to a commercial driving school to teach both classroom and the behind-the-wheel phase. Because of Graduated Driver Licensing laws adopted in Pennsylvania, quality driver education teachers are needed.