Board 134: Engineering Education Using Inexpensive Drones

Randy Michael Russell; John Daniel Ristvey

Download Paper | Permalink

Conference: 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Tampa, Florida
Publication Date: June 15, 2019
Start Date: June 15, 2019
End Date: June 19, 2019
Conference Session: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Tagged Topic: NSF Grantees Poster Session
Page Count: 15
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--32241
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/32241
Download Count: 437

Paper Authors

biography

Randy Michael Russell UCAR Center for Science Education

visit author page

Randy Russell develops science and engineering education curriculum and trains teachers via his job with the K-12 education group at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), a large atmospheric science research lab in Boulder, Colorado. He has a Ph.D. in education from Michigan State, a Master's degree in aerospace engineering from U. Maryland, and a B.S. in astrophysics from Michigan State.

He did most of the development work on a drone-based engineering education curriculum for underrepresented youth in after-school programs, which was developed and deployed over the past 3 years with support from an NSF ITEST grant.

visit author page

biography

John Daniel Ristvey Jr. UCAR

visit author page

John Ristvey, M.S., (UCAR, Principal Investigator), is development lead for Engineering Experiences in collaboration with Dr. Tammy Sumner, Srinjita Bhaduri, and Dr. Randy Russell. He provides expertise in Out of School Time (OST) programming with student supports and STEM education. Ristvey coordinates each of the teams and lead the design team as well as the work of the advisory board. He has conducted extensive research and development work in STEM OST projects such as Cosmic Chemistry (Institute for Educational Sciences, Department of Education) and NanoExperiences. Ristvey was the PI for three NSF-funded projects: NanoLeap, NanoTeach and NanoExperiences. He also was the lead developer for the Dynamic Design series of engineering modules for NASA’s Genesis mission. He holds a Master’s degree in Secondary Science Education from University of Houston, Clear Lake, TX.

visit author page

Download Paper | Permalink

Abstract

Educators from the UCAR Center for Science Education have developed a series of engineering education activities using inexpensive “drones” or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). The activities have been tested with several cohorts of middle school-aged students in OST (Outside of School Time) settings, and have been refined and improved as a result of that testing. Most of the students in each of those settings came from low-income families, and most were also of Hispanic background. The activities have also been tested with high school students in an OST program run by CABPES (Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists), and with 5th grade elementary students. This work was done with funding from an NSF ITEST grant provided by the NSF Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings, (# 1513102).

The curriculum consists of more than a dozen lessons that can be combined in various ways to fit the needs of each educational setting. The lesson plans are available online for free at SciEd.ucar.edu/engineering-activities, and can be completed using hobbyist UAVs costing $50 or less. Lessons are suitable for novices without previous flying experience, and include a "flight school" series for new pilots. Once students have become competent pilots, they conduct a series of performance tests to determine how fast their UAV’s fly, battery lifetime which controls flight duration, and the amount of payload weight the UAV can carry. Next, students use this performance data to take on engineering challenges. The “Retrieve a Payload” activity challenges students to design a “skyhook” device to attach to their UAV to enable it to pick up and retrieve a small payload from across the room. The initial version of this activity provides students with simple materials, such as pipe cleaners and rubber bands and tape, with which to design and build their own skyhooks. A followup extension activity has students choose between different designs of 3D printed skyhooks to use in a reprise of the payload retrieval task.

The capstone activity for the curriculum requires students to survey a model town using the UAV’s camera. Portions of the town have been damaged by a disaster; student UAV operators must determine the extent and details of the damage. The town is hidden from student view by a “mountain range” (a tarp over some chairs), so the students must hover their UAV over the town and record video of the scene below. This “Disasterville” activity also incorporates an engineering design task; the UAV’s camera must be slightly “hacked” to allow it to point downward. An optional literacy extension requires students to create a comic strip-like storyboard describing an aid mission using UAVs (such as delivering medical supplies). We have also developed a UAV mission board game that allows students to simulate use of an expensive, professional grade UAV to monitor a volcano; making optimization choices of instruments to carry based on weight, cost, and energy use; and iterating on their plan over the course of multiple simulated flights.

Citation
Format

Russell, R. M., & Ristvey, J. D. (2019, June), Board 134: Engineering Education Using Inexpensive Drones Paper presented at 2019 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Tampa, Florida. 10.18260/1-2--32241

TY - CPAPER
AB - Educators from the UCAR Center for Science Education have developed a series of engineering education activities using inexpensive “drones” or UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles). The activities have been tested with several cohorts of middle school-aged students in OST (Outside of School Time) settings, and have been refined and improved as a result of that testing. Most of the students in each of those settings came from low-income families, and most were also of Hispanic background. The activities have also been tested with high school students in an OST program run by CABPES (Colorado Association of Black Professional Engineers and Scientists), and with 5th grade elementary students. This work was done with funding from an NSF ITEST grant provided by the NSF Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings, (# 1513102).

The curriculum consists of more than a dozen lessons that can be combined in various ways to fit the needs of each educational setting. The lesson plans are available online for free at SciEd.ucar.edu/engineering-activities, and can be completed using hobbyist UAVs costing $50 or less. Lessons are suitable for novices without previous flying experience, and include a &quot;flight school&quot; series for new pilots. Once students have become competent pilots, they conduct a series of performance tests to determine how fast their UAV’s fly, battery lifetime which controls flight duration, and the amount of payload weight the UAV can carry. Next, students use this performance data to take on engineering challenges. The “Retrieve a Payload” activity challenges students to design a “skyhook” device to attach to their UAV to enable it to pick up and retrieve a small payload from across the room. The initial version of this activity provides students with simple materials, such as pipe cleaners and rubber bands and tape, with which to design and build their own skyhooks. A followup extension activity has students choose between different designs of 3D printed skyhooks to use in a reprise of the payload retrieval task.

The capstone activity for the curriculum requires students to survey a model town using the UAV’s camera. Portions of the town have been damaged by a disaster; student UAV operators must determine the extent and details of the damage. The town is hidden from student view by a “mountain range” (a tarp over some chairs), so the students must hover their UAV over the town and record video of the scene below. This “Disasterville” activity also incorporates an engineering design task; the UAV’s camera must be slightly “hacked” to allow it to point downward. An optional literacy extension requires students to create a comic strip-like storyboard describing an aid mission using UAVs (such as delivering medical supplies). We have also developed a UAV mission board game that allows students to simulate use of an expensive, professional grade UAV to monitor a volcano; making optimization choices of instruments to carry based on weight, cost, and energy use; and iterating on their plan over the course of multiple simulated flights.
AU - Randy Michael Russell
AU - John Daniel Ristvey Jr.
CY - Tampa, Florida
DA - 2019/06/15
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Board 134: Engineering Education Using Inexpensive Drones
UR - https://peer.asee.org/32241
DO - 10.18260/1-2--32241
ER -