Drone Technology

WMMS 2018 –
Christopher Salber
 Who am I and how
did I come to teach
Drone Technology?
Christopher Salber
◇ Military Spouse
◇ Certified to teach SOCIAL
STUDIES in PA, OH, TX, MD
◇ Teacher for about 10 years
◇ 90% High School Social
Studies. ◇ Contact – csalber@bcps.org
2◇ Tried to get a STAT position
 Okay so how did
you come to teach
Drone Technology?
◇ I like MacGyver
◇ I saw a drone in an
episode of NCIS
Christopher Salber
◇ Military Spouse
◇ Certified to teach SOCIAL
STUDIES in PA, OH, TX, MD
◇ Teacher for about 10 years
◇ 90% High School Social Studies.
◇ Tried to get a STAT position at
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC
3 BCPS
 The principal
My response (in my head)
◇ We have Mavic, Parrot & RubiQ
drones ◇ I have no idea what that is

◇ There is no Middle School course ◇ Great I can’t copy off another

teacher
◇ Come up with a course

The ◇ Oh boy

Conversation

4
 Brainstorming
◇ Lift – Build and fly a kite
◇ Controls – Flight
simulator
◇ The Science of flight –
Bernoulli's and Newton
experiments
◇ Field trips to airfields
◇ Drone pilot guest
speakers
5
◇ Right away I started
coming up with what I
thought were great
ideas
◇ I pulled in ideas from my
time with STARBASE –
A STEM camp in Dayton,
OH
 The principal
My response (in my head)
◇ This is Block scheduling
◇ Oh
◇ We are just piloting this (21 class
days) ◇ OHHHHH
◇ We have a school wide literacy

The
launch week 1

Conversation

6
 On to the next plan
7
 ◇ The goals of this course were to
￭ Identify and apply the engineering design process
￭ Differentiate between invention and innovation
￭ Apply the foundations of flight – Bernoulli’s principle and
Newton’s laws, forces of flight
￭ Identify and use the controls of an airplane in a flight simulator
￭ Identify and describe the job opportunities of drones today and
in the future.
￭ Experience the controls of a drone and perform maneuvers
using a parrot drone.
￭ Apply the controls of a drone in a real-life scenario as the
students create their own film using a Mavic drone
￭ Create a flying machine that can solve a real-world problem
using makerspace material
ABOUT US
We had a total of 10
classes of Mass
Communications 0f
approximately
140 – 6th graders
pag 80 – 7th graders
e 16
60 – 8th graders
 What did we do

Where did the Where do we How do we get How to assess How to improve
students start want them to be there the effectiveness

Revisit the
Get an Ensure it is Develop and Student
class at the
understandi not just a create feedback
end of the
ng of the “fun class” lessons with and
year and
backgrounds that simply ample hands assessments
make
and levels. flies drones on
suggestions
page
experiences
21
 Intro to Design
– Balloon
Activity and
1
Banana Build
Project
 Balloon
Activity

Students were introduced to the

problem solving/ design process when
they were given tools to create a
balloon tower. Developed
communication skills, problem solving
skills, divergent thinking and
assortment of engineering skills to be
used throughout the course.

23
 PLTW Design
Process

Students had a reading in all classes

for a school wide literacy initiative and
had to design something that could
resolve issues for young children in
South America.

24
 Banana Build
Project
Students had a reading in all classes
for a school wide literacy inactive and
had to design something that could
resolve issues for young children in
South America.

25
 History of
flight –
2 Kites to
Drones
 From Kites to
Drones
My background is still rooted in history/
social studies, therefore I felt it
necessary to take a look back at where
we have been in terms of flight to see
where we potentially are going.
Students explored how humans have
tried to fly from Ancient China to the
modern day, including an in class demo
of hot air balloons

27
 How to achieve
3 Flight
Bernoulli's Principle
Newtons Laws
 Bernoulli'
s
Principle
Newton’s
Laws
Students learned how things fly and
how air pressure is crucial in flight
through a number of hands on
experiments, stations and in class
demos.

29
4 Flight Simulator
 Flight Sim

Students took the knowledge of how

things fly and tried to fly a plane using
similar controls of an authentic aircraft.

31
5 Intro to drone
 Intro to
Drones

Students did research on how drones

work and some jobs currently available.
The goal being that students could see
themselves in those jobs and
understand the earning potential of
piloting a drone, fixing a drone, and
designing a drone.

33
 Parrot Drone
6 Obstacle
 Parrot Drones

Students finally got to fly their first

drone and create obstacles for each
other to test out. They became familiar
with the controls and movements of a
drone in a more controlled setting.

35
 Mavic Pro Drone
7 Film Project
 Mavic Pro
Film

Students were able to create a real

world experience and apply how they
may be able to apply drones in the
workplace. Some students saw this as
a job they would want in the future.

37
 Student Flight
8 Design Projects
 Student Flight
Design
Students brought all their knowledge
together to create their own original
designs of a flying machine that can
solve a real world problem and present
in front of a three person panel.

39
 Was it effective

￮ At the conclusion of the course we

wanted to gauge the effectiveness and
especially assess how students did
across the grade level to evaluate how
we wanted to move forward.
￮ Ultimately the administration wanted to
ensure that this was an effective tool to
help educate students at a potential IB
school.
40
 What did we do

Where did the Where do we How do we get How to assess How to improve
students start want them to be there the effectiveness

Revisit the
Get an Ensure it is Develop and Student
class at the
understandi not just a create feedback
end of the
ng of the “fun class” lessons with and
year and
backgrounds that simply ample hands assessments
make
and levels. flies drones on
suggestions
page
experiences
41
 WHERE DID
THEY START
MOST OF THE FIRST QUARTER WAS SPENT
PROVIDING THE STUDENTS WITH KNOWLEDGE
NECESSARY TO MOVE FORWARD

◇ 8th grade demonstrated a vast level

of background knowledge and was
able to refer to lessons from 7th
grade
◇ 7th grade were currently covering
some concepts and able to apply
them to lessons
◇ 6th grade needed to be walked
through the concepts
page 42
WHERE DO WE
WANT THEM TO
BE
WE WANTED TO GET TO THE HANDS ON
ACTIVITIES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
◇ Classroom management, policies and
procedures were much more difficult
to navigate then initially thought.
◇ Some behaviors with the 6th grade
students made it impossible to move
forward with some hands on lessons
such as the flight simulator and drone
lessons.
page
 HOW DID WE
GET THERE
INCENTIVE BASED LESSONS

◇ In order to develop student interests,

the lessons included student choice
and various incentive to increase
interests.
◇ For many students (but not all) this
proved to be effective.
◇ We also developed more elaborate
grading methods – such as
presentations in front of a panel
page
HOW TO ASSESS
THE
EFFECTIVENESS
A NUMBER OF STUDENT FEEDBACK FORMS
AND A FORMAL EXAM
◇ We wanted to ensure the students
understood our key objectives to the
course and decided it was necessary to
have a formal exam.
◇ We also wanted to know what went
well and didn’t so we provided an
opportunity to provide their feedback in
the form of a survey.
page
WE POLLED ALL
STUDENTS
ONLY 152 ELECTED TO RESPOND

◇ Students were given about 11

questions and assured it will
not have any influence on their
grades

page
 WE ASKED FOR
THEIR LEVEL OF
EFFORT
Quotes from students
◇ I think I gave good effort because sometimes I
got confused and gave up but most of the time
I did my best
◇ I feel I put in a lot of effort into it to get a good
grade and to try my best towards this class so I
have options for jobs and careers.
◇ I need to stop playing around with people and
do my work.
◇ I put in poor effort because I didn't understand
anything we did
page 47
 WE ASKED
ABOUT THE
Quotes from students
PACING
◇ I think the time went by fast because everyday we
was on something new

◇ My group was off task because the other groups

were goofing off and there were only a few people
that were helping.

◇ We really didn't have enough time for our drone

build project like we couldn't finish our presentation
in times, but if we had more time to do the project all
the groups could've done better

◇ I felt as if we didn't get enough time, and had to

rush, especially on the drone build project. And I had
to stay after school and during lunch to finish. page 48
 WE ASKED
ABOUT THE
DIFFICULTY
Quotes from students
◇ The class isn't really hard, but the
building portion and applying the four
forces of flight was difficult. Also how
we didn't really get a example on how to
build it.
◇ it was too hard because we didn't know
what we were doing due to the fact that
we have never build anything
◇ the film project was hard because we
didn't have time
page 49
 WE ASKED
ABOUT HOW
THEY THOUGHT
Quotes from students WE DID
◇ Mr.Salber made sure we knew what we
was doing but sometimes it was hard to
comprehend what we copying down
and what we are doing
◇ You did your job even though some
people didn't do their work. You still did
your job as a teacher.
◇ I think overall Mr. Salber was a great
teacher he had helped if we needed
help. He made everything clear and
understandable and things were
organized and well planned and
page 50
effective to our lives.
 WE ASKED
ABOUT THE
Quotes from students
COURSE
◇ The course was really hard but
engaging
◇ Mr. Barrett did a great job during our
courses
◇ yall didn't let us have enough time to
finish
◇ I think that everything was perfect and it
allowed most students to engage and
participate in the projects and school page 51
work and it was fun.
 questions

Name one thing you What is one part of the

learned in the course that course you liked?
you can see yourself
using in the future?

What is one part of the How would you improve

course you DID NOT like? this course?

page
 • I learned how people have to make a
blueprint and make it accurate and also
what many different things drones can do if
you put your mind to it. Drones can get you
a lot of money in the future because it's so
many jobs out there for drones.

Name one thing you

• That depending on who you work with
depends on how many things you get done.
• I learned on different ways on how Drones
learned in the can be used.
• I plan on being an engineer in the future.

course that you can

Building a drone is a useful thing to know
for my career choice.
• The mechanics to help my peers or family
see yourself using in
the future? pag
e 53
 • When we started to use the drones
• Flight simulator
• Making the film
• Making the drone
• I liked the presentation part of the
course because it made me think a
lot about teamwork and
What is one part cooperation and helped get better
at it

of the course
you liked? pag
e 54
 • that the 6th grade have to leave early
• During the drone building project, there
were some people in my group that
didn't help. We still put their name on
the project, even though only about
four of the seven people actually

What is one part

worked.
• When people messed with our drone to
make us restart

of the course
• people not taking work seriously when
working in groups are not participating
• presenting

you DID NOT

like? page
55
 • Pair with classes doing the same thing so
we can feed different information off of
each other
• to give us more time and to let this class
be a privilege
• I don't know if this is useful, but choosing
the students for this class wisely. There
are students in this class who are
uninterested and/or unmotivated, which

How would you holds the class back. Drone technology

isn't a class for just anyone.
• Making it a full course not just a half of the

improve this school year

course? page
56
Forecasting for success
Class Data Test Scores with no curve
2A 2B 3A 3B 4A 4B

1st 86% 78% 78% 79% 81% 77%

2nd 78% 79% 74% 74% 72% 76%

Exam
–
80% 79% 79% 85% 69% 74%
With
Curve

page
57
 HOW TO
IMPROVE
WE WANTED TO POOL THE DATA TOGETHER TO
FIGURE OUT WHERE TO IMPROVE

◇ Class makeup
◇ Length of class
◇ Competition opportunities

page
58
Class Make up
◇ All year, the feeling was that this
was simply too difficult for the 6th
grade students
￭ They had been denied
opportunities of other
classes due to maturity
issues
￭ Created dangerous
classroom environments
with using the drones
￭ Had a difficult time
grasping the concepts as
evident in their test scores.
page 59
Length of class

◇ Even though we covered a lot of

material there were a number of hands
on activities and experiences we didn’t
get to
￭ RubiQ drone build
￭ Kite build activity to introduce lift
￭ Newton live Demos
￭ Class trips
￭ Guest speakers
◇ In addition many of the students would
have liked more time to develop their
projects into something better
page 60
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 page
61

Competition
opportunities
◇ We were able to fall into a competition
that coincided with a current project but, it
would be advantageous if other schools
were able to adopt a class like this and
have a district wide competition
◇ I would like to partner with other
organizations or high schools that have a
program around flight to ensure students
understand the opportunity from the class.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

 Recommendations
We have a vision for what the class can be, but we’d need to alter the current state.
6th grade
Coding
The students have been
introduced to coding websites.
There is a level of a familiarity
and it is simple enough where
their lack of background
knowledge should not impede
the learning activities.
page
62
7th
CAD – 3D Printing
Many students were interested
in developing and printing
parts for the drone project on
the 3D printers, but to teach
students about how it works
and what needs to be done
would take too long. It is a
great skill to have and we have
already made an investment in
the printers.
8th
Drone technology
The current set up should be
altered, the 8th graders have
the skills to build the RubiQ
and, after taking coding and
CAD, could have the skills to
created their own functioning
drone as a MS Capstone
Project.