Game of Drones

Funded Feb 1, 2019

The spark drones we added to our program have been a huge hit! Most of the program uses very small drones for practice, and students were limited to just two large drones for real-time projects. The addition of the spark drones stimulated creativity and practical use beyond just learning to fly. It made classroom projects manageable with more materials to spread out amongst the students, and it helped our students get out into the community and participate in outreach.

One outreach application was also a practical activity that students learned about in class; they used a drone to take pictures and videos on a grid for the Cumberland County Schools Carbon Bank project in order to count trees in a saturated, muddy field. Other drone activities for the year included taking pictures of our county Earth Day Fair and our CTE showcase. There are currently plans to use them in a golf tournament fundraiser next year, in our weather balloon stem outreach program, in an air quality assignment, and in our carbon sequestration research project to measure the height of fifty trees as a part of carbon calculations.

On the creative front, students were required to make videos using simple online software to piece together a story of their choosing. They had to use drone footage and camera footage and design a minimum four-minute video. I think that many students found this to be their most engaging project and it led to some really fun and exciting videos. One student is considering future schooling as a drone pilot operator. Ultimately, these drones are helping students in a variety of 21st Century skills and helping them understand the role of technology, research, and data collection. Our deepest appreciation for the impact of this gift!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Renfro