There are ways that drones can be used in the classroom that will certainly help to have an effective teaching and learning
- Social Studies:Have students join kinesthetic mapping. Photograph or record their movements to chronicle changes in history over time. Draw a map of the world in chalk and have the students “migrate” across the Bering Strait. Create a map of Europe and have students conquer areas and show the spread of the Roman Empire.
- Language Arts:Present different points of view. Photograph the school close up and from far away to see the school from a different perspective. Take photos of little seen areas of the school, and have students write guesses about where the photo might have been taken.
- P.E.:Send the drone up during PE class to watch students demonstrate a particular play. Then land it and hook your device to an LCD projector so the kids can watch what they did. Have them discuss where they should have been and what they can do better. Run the drill again, and see if their reflection improved their performance.
- Math:Recreate thePowers of 10 video. Remember? The camera started at ground level and pulled back showing what the world looked like zooming out by the power of 10. The drones only go so far, so kids can integrate the footage with their own illustrations in post.
- Science:Look at the micro world and the macro world. Have a few kids be “cells” of an unknown creature. Pin signs to them with different labels giving clues as to what the broader organism might be. Slowly zoom out and at each 10 feet of distance or so learn a little more about the macro environment in which the cells live. Zoom out entirely to see the plant or creatures in which the cells function.
- ASB, Community Building:Produce a video. We’ve all seen lipdub videos on YouTube. Drones give you interesting camera angles. You no longer have to rent a crane (expensive) or borrow a wheelchair to use as a cheap, but bumpy, steady cam. Drones, however, let you see the school from above — and that can be somehow very celebratory.
- Current Events:Debate. Form a student congress. What about privacy issues? What is the future of our workforce if companies like Amazon use drones for deliveries? Are drones a good technology, or are we one step closer to automaton domination?
Drones give students glimpses of themselves and their place in the world. Many tweens, for instance, rarely think about the macro while living the micro. This technology could help students visualize themselves as being a part of something bigger while also helping them keep their own me-me-me-ness in perspective. For tweens at least, feeling a little “smaller” might help their own decision making in such a self-centric time of life.