With so many connections to technology and innovation, drones continue to positively impact STEM education. Two of the biggest benefits of drones in education include helping students to learn coding skills and helping to expose them to exciting future careers. And, though it may be surprising, not all educational drones are complex. In fact, the best drones for students are actually super easy for anybody to use. Beginning in upper elementary school, teachers can work with students and incorporate drone lessons in their classroom STEAM curriculum, as part of afterschool clubs, or in both. This helps students develop crucial 21st century skills, like coding, collaboration, computational thinking, and more. Plus, students can fly them indoors or outdoors and take on any challenges that are appropriate for them.
Perfect for computer science classes, programmable drones are quite valuable for 21st century learning. With solutions like the CoDrone EDU or RubiQ devices, students could completely control the flight paths and movements of their UAVs using code they create—perfectly combining two incredibly relevant areas of STEM. Plus, these drone kits are available as standalone units or as classroom-sized packs. And, some of these also include in-depth curriculum guides, professional development materials, and even safety training resources. With these components, middle school, high school, and CTE instructors can create all-new classes or additions to the STEM curriculum. Browse our content to find tips and tricks as well as inspiration for aligning piloting and engineering with problem solving. And, find all our classroom drones on our store.
What started out as a cool and unique chance for students to develop key skills while trying out new technology has grown into a legitimate teaching and learning approach. Now, with applications in all sorts of today’s STEM and CTE disciplines, educators are discovering how teaching with various drones can help prepare students for the future in a variety of
Cynthia will combine different STEAM and real–world elements using PBL, including having kids do research on organisms, underwater environments, the importance of ecosystems, and more. Besides initial research, kids will also read nonfiction books, explore the geography in this environment, and collectively design an oceanic ecosystem mural to cap things off.
Erika’s helped out launching school-wide aerospace and drone technology initiatives to help expose all students to various career opportunities. She’s been working toward securing some new STEAM supplies while designing new curricula for enabling students to develop key skills as it relates to the evolution of technology in the aerospace industry, so we’re helping out!
The Tello EDU’s a compact, lightweight classroom drone with a purposeful design that helps to enable seamless integration in K-12 classroom coding projects, STEAM experiences, and CTE curricula. One of the signature DJI drones, students can program it using Scratch, Swift, or Python and utilize the Tello app to redefine real-world lessons in many different subjects.
With the DroneBlocks app and curriculum, students can program the flight paths and movements of the Tello EDU using simplistic drag-and-drop blocks. They could also utilize DroneBlocks for programming some of the more advanced DJI drones, like the Phantom 3, Phantom 4, Mavic Pro, Mavic Air, and the regular Tello drone. Read on to learn more!
One very exciting update to the DroneBlocks curriculum offerings is the virtual coding simulator. Using this web-based platform, students can create block coding programs for the Tello EDU drone and control its maneuvers as it navigates a virtual but realistic environment. And, not to be outdone, the DroneBlocks Code platform is optimized for JavaScript.
Whether it’s robotics, circuitry, engineering, or something else, there are obviously a myriad of STEM solutions available to today’s K-12 teachers. With all these options, they often look for something to differentiate them and, regularly, that’s the curricular component. With the NAO V6, Dash Robot, Finch 2.0, and more, they can get those key guides included.
With DroneBlocks, STEM educators can build on student interest in flying drones and take it further with drones they can program! DroneBlocks is a free app that is compatible with Chrome, iPad, and Android devices and provides educators with great professional development tools and resources for helping them maximize their drone and coding instruction.
Teaching students about drones, their uses, and how to pilot them is amazing in its own right. When you incorporate the fact that some drones, like the Tello EDU, are programmable, then it takes drone education to a whole new level and the DroneBlocks professional learning content is a great way to get started.
DJI’s drones are great for teaching coding and piloting basics. Having long been a staple of our STEM education offerings, these drones offer unprecedented levels of excitement and a ton of educational value for students. They can literally use one tool to learn about piloting, shooting video, and coding, making the Tello EDU a great value.
