Driving Question:
|
How do we as teachers educate young children how to safely fly drones?
|
Individual Product:
|
None yet. The project was designed to contain only a group product.
|
Public Audience:
|
Students present to a group of lower school students. I tried it with 4th grade students, and it worked great!
|
Project Overview, Student Learning Guide, and Assessment Maps:
|
None yet. This was an idea I ran with because drone technology was hot and relevant in 2016. I didn't spend a lot of time creating the hard curriculum when starting this project. It lacked the planning and standards alignment to make it a truly rigorous project, but it was a fantastic learning experience for all parties involved.
|
Project Calendar:
|
Same as above
|
Ancillary Materials:
|
Same as above
|
Teacher Reflections:
|
Pros:
This project is incredibly authentic. Drones are a rising star in the technology realm, and we're going to see them more and more. They used to be only used heavily in the military, but since the FAA released a section of airspace for recreational and commercial drone flight, the industry has boomed. Recreational use has skyrocketed, and it only takes one Youtube search of "drone fails" to realize that a good number of people don't know how to fly safely. Cons: I didn't take the time to align this project to standards. I know it hits some, but it may not be rigorous enough to keep as a project as it's currently designed. I'm thinking of adding a component that requires students to plan and create a video using some drone footage, maybe like an aerial tour of the school or something for a local client. Tons of businesses have a need for aerial footage. One of my standards is: identify and participate in training, education, or certification required for employment. If my students are old enough, I could require that they take the FAA test to become licensed commercial pilots. That way, we could actually bring in some real clients to bring more purpose to flying drones. The project would become much more rigorous because of all the planning, communication, and research needed to complete the videos. Maybe the individual product could be a safety pamphlet that each lower school student would receive at the presentation. |