Johnson, W., & Goeser, P., & Hacker, J., & Snyder, T. (2022, August), The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--41207

\bibitem{asee_peer_41207}
  Johnson, W., \& Goeser, P., \& Hacker, J., \& Snyder, T. (2022, August), \emph{The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)}
  Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN.
  10.18260/1-2--41207

Wayne Johnson, Priya Goeser, Josiah Hacker, and Thomas Snyder.  "The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)".  2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August.  ASEE Conferences, 2022.  https://peer.asee.org/41207 Internet.  01 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_41207}
  Wayne Johnson, Priya Goeser, Josiah Hacker, and Thomas Snyder.
  "The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)".
  \emph{2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Minneapolis, MN, 2022, August}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2022.
  https://peer.asee.org/41207 Internet.  01 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_41207
author = "Wayne Johnson, Priya Goeser, Josiah Hacker, and Thomas Snyder"
title = "The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)"
booktitle = "2022 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2022"
month = "August"
address = "Minneapolis, MN"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/41207}
number = {10.18260/1-2--41207}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Remotely Operated Aerial Reconnaissance (Eagle-ROAR) and Remotely Operated Aerial Recovery (Eagle-ROAR2) were novel engineering design challenges (EDC) that engaged high school students through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), in the application of  fundamental mathematics, physics, and design engineering.  Eagle-ROAR was held in 2020 and Eagle-ROAR2 in 2021, and both were impacted by COVID19 protocols. There have been several pre-pandemic drone based K-12 outreach efforts [1]–[4] and even a few virtual general (non-drone based) engineering design K-12 competitions [5]–[7] .  There were no virtual drone based K-12 outreach efforts found in the literature. Although student participation was limited due to COVID19 policies, these same policies also resulted in unexpected leverages of technology for the development of student ideas  and presentation of the final designs. The goals of this paper are to communicate novel COVID19 adaptations for a drone-based engineering design challenge for high school students and to add to the growing body of drone themed activities that can inspire the next generation of STEM innovators.

Eagle-ROAR was inspired by the broad popularity of terrestrial drones and NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission, which included an autonomous helicopter (drone). In early spring 2020, each Eagle-ROAR team was initially tasked with learning how to fly a provided stock drone and designing a 3D printable grasping system that attaches to the drone for the acquisition and deployment of a supplied payload. Due to COVID19 remote learning requirements, Eagle-ROAR was postponed until Fall 2020 and scaled down to only require the teams to create a video presentation of  their design for the 3D printable grasping system. Four teams (12 students) successfully designed and presented their grasping system prototypes.  Eagle-ROAR2 was inspired by the NASA ARTEMIS Program to get astronauts to the Moon by 2024. Eagle-ROAR2 teams were also tasked with learning how to fly a provided stock drone, but had to design and test a 3D printable drone attachment tool for excavating and delivering simulated lunar soil. They also performed kinematic analysis of drone flight. Eagle-ROAR2 was specifically organized as a set of hybrid activities and a virtual final event with five teams (27 students) participating. All teams successfully designed and evaluated their excavation tools.

All EDC participants completed pre and post-tests and  self-reporting surveys. For both events, the majority of students showed a post-test score increase (not statistically significant in 2020, but was statistically significant in 2021).  The majority of students in both events also indicated that EDC increased their desire to pursue a Science, Technology, Engineering or Math (STEM) career at a statistically significant level. A virtual based EDC both limited and expanded the level of interaction of participants. A mix of virtual meetings can provide greater flexibility for team mentors and coaches to interact with the high school teams. Overall, both EDCs were successful in engaging the participants.

AU  - Wayne Johnson
AU  - Priya Goeser
AU  - Josiah Hacker
AU  - Thomas Snyder
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Challenge of Challenges:  Virtual Engineering Design Challenges During the COVID19 Pandemic (Evaluation)
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/41207
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--41207
ER  -