STEM Fundamentals Drone Camp - Pilot

Date (s): June 17th - July 24th, 2024, Mondays & Wednesdays, 12 - 3 pm

Location: Thorn Hill Education Center, 700 Leslie Ave, Frankfort, KY 40601

Target Audience: 11 - 14-year-olds from Franklin County, Kentucky

Project Impact: 16 students

Demographics: 11 males, 5 females

Program Educators: Tisa Conway-Cunningham, Jason Allen, Krystal Conway-Cunningham

Program Description:

In the program, youth learn STEM concepts through a problem-based learning experience. They are introduced to real-world problems and explore solutions that drone technology can provide. They learn about forestry and timber, mapping and construction, public safety, energy, agriculture, and cinematography. Youth learn how to use drones as tools.

Project Summary:

Week 1 (June 17th & 19th): Flight Training / Fighting Fires

• Students learned about drones, the basic principles of flight, and practiced flight skills while aiding in emergency relief efforts after a hurricane in Puerto Rico. Students learned the importance of Drone navigation during natural disasters. Key takeaways included rescue, med and food drops, and detecting overall damage.

Week 2 (June 24th & 26th): Fighting Fires

• Students learned how to use automatic drone flight modes. They learned about fighting forest fires using controlled burns. They learned how to use the flipping mode. The flipping mode was a technique used to drop Dragon Eggs, create a controlled burn, and to stop forest fires.

Week 3 (July 1st & 3rd): Medicine Delivery

• Students learned the basis of the engineer design process. This was used to help students to navigate through obstacles to a remote village in Rwanda. Students learned how drones are used to carry out time sensitive deliveries in remote places allowing treatments and resources to get doctors in the most crucial of times. 

Week 4 (July 8th & 10th): Helper Bees

• Students learned about the declining bee population and the important role that bees play in our ecosystem. Students used drones to help build programs to help bees pollinate flowers. Students also learned about 3D coordinates and used this to use drones to mimic bees pollination. 

Week 5 (July 15th & 17th): Life on Mars

• Students took drones to Mars. They learned how to scan craters to look for signs for extraterrestrial life. They documented species detection with video and photos taken in flight, and learned the importance of having minimal disturbance in a habitat when researching. They refactored code using functions.

Week 6 (July 23rd & 24th): Koala Care

• Students used drones to gather information about Koalas. They were able to revisit their week two lesson on forest fires, and were able to connect the impact that those fires had on koala bear populations. Students were then able to create a video from the pictures and video they shot with the drones, to raise awareness about Koala’s habitat destruction.  

• Students also were allowed to explore the Frankfort airport and aviation department.

Data:

Students participating in the STEM Fundamentals Drone Camp from June 17th - July 24th completed a self-evaluation survey in which they read nine Likert-scale statements and replied to each statement with either 1 for TRUE BEFORE camp, 2 for TRUE NOW that camp is over, or 3 for FALSE (they still do not know).

The statements addressed the following standards:

• CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.4/5.4/6.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words or phrases in a text.

• CSTA 1B-AP-10 Create programs that include sequences, events, loops, and conditionals. (P5.2)

• ISTE 1d. Students understand the fundamental concepts of technology operations, demonstrate the ability to choose, use, and troubleshoot current technologies, and are able to transfer their knowledge to explore emerging technologies.

• NGSS 3-PS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.

• NGSS 5-PS2-1: Support an argument that the gravitational force exerted by Earth on objects is directed down.

• CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.6.SP.B.5.C Giving quantitative measures of center (median and/or mean).

• ISTE 2b. Students engage in positive, safe, legal, and ethical behavior when using technology, including social interactions online or when using networked devices.

Results:

• 13 students completed the survey. 

• 100% of students who took the survey reported a gain in their knowledge of the vocabulary words associated with Tello drones.

• 25% of students reported having used a drone prior to the camp.

• 92% of students reported that the camp taught them how to utilize the engineering design process.

• 75% of students reported having learned the importance of drones and how they provide solutions to real-world problems.