From Toys to Tools: UAVs in Middle-school Engineering Education (RTP)

Srinjita Bhaduri; Katie Van Horne; John Daniel Ristvey; Randy Russell; Tamara Sumner

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Conference: 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Salt Lake City, Utah
Publication Date: June 23, 2018
Start Date: June 23, 2018
End Date: July 27, 2018
Conference Session: Underrepresented Populations
Tagged Division: Pre-College Engineering Education
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 23
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--30546
Permanent URL: https://strategy.asee.org/30546
Download Count: 899

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Paper Authors

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Srinjita Bhaduri University of Colorado, Boulder

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Srinjita Bhaduri is a PhD student in Computer and Cognitive Science at University of Colorado Boulder. Her research examines how educational technology can improve student engagement and student learning, often focusing on underserved populations.

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Katie Van Horne

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John Daniel Ristvey Jr. UCAR Center for Science Education

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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.

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Randy Russell UCAR Center for Science Education

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Tamara Sumner

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I am a Professor at the University of Colorado, with a joint appointment between the Institute of Cognitive Science and the Department of Computer Science. I am currently serving as the Director of the Institute of Cognitive Science. I lead an interdisciplinary research and development lab that studies how computational tools – combining cognitive science, machine intelligence, and interactive media – can improve teaching practice, learning outcomes and learner engagement. My research and teaching interests include personalized learning, learning analytics, cyberlearning environments, educational digital libraries, scholarly communications, human-centered computing, and interdisciplinary research methods for studying cognition. I have written 140 articles on these topics, including over 80 peer-reviewed scholarly publications.

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Abstract

The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 52% of students in US K-12 public schools were eligible for free and reduced lunch during 2013-2014, up from 38 percent in 2000-2001. Research is needed to better understand how to create engaging and effective informal learning environments for this changing youth demographic. For instance, what are their interests? How can they be provided with experiences commensurate with peers who have greater opportunities? What are the aspirations of young people in middle-school who will be tomorrow’s leaders? To answer these questions, we developed Engineering Experiences, an out-of-school-time program providing youth from low-income families with engineering and technology experiences in atmospheric and related sciences.

Over the last two years, using a design-based research methodology, we have developed, implemented, and studied a semester-long, after school engineering program based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/Drones). Here, we report on the field trial of the final version of this program, and examine the efficacy of the program for increasing youth motivation and aspirations in STEM, enhancing their abilities to engage in engineering design processes, and for developing their capacity to use drones to address scientific and engineering problems. We also report on the changes the program has on youth perceptions of UAV/Drones: from considering UAVs as “toys” to realizing they can be used as “tools” to support of science and engineering practices.

To answer our research questions and to ensure that we were creating an engaging experience for this youth demographic, we generated a list of possible “high tech” projects (i.e., wind power, solar power, dropsonde, and other sensors platforms such as drones) and asked all youth to vote on their top preferences: students expressed an overwhelming interest in working with drones. The UAV curriculum was developed around three main segments: learning to fly, UAV performance tests, and UAV design challenges of carrying and retrieving a payload, and sensing a mock disaster area. The entire curriculum is organized around a realistic storyline in which students consider the needs of a small town to monitor conditions of a nearby volcano. Throughout the lessons, conditions change resulting in students needing to plan and implement survey and rescue activities using the UAVs. This 16-week long program was implemented with 12 middle-school students from low-income families. Student “flight log” booklets were used throughout the curriculum for intentional student reflection and a source of data. Both qualitative and quantitative data on student engagement, persistence, and competencies in engineering were collected, including surveys, short writing assignments, interviews and observations. Multiple surveys and interviews was administered to the youth to determine changes in their interests in engineering, changes perceptions about drones, their program experience, understanding of the engineering design process, reasons for attending the program, and help provide formative feedback to the curriculum team. Short writing assignments ask students to reflect on the relevance of engineering to their lives. Finally, observation data are used to provide insights on the level of engagement, and persistence of students in the program.

Citation
Format

Bhaduri, S., & Van Horne, K., & Ristvey, J. D., & Russell, R., & Sumner, T. (2018, June), From Toys to Tools: UAVs in Middle-school Engineering Education (RTP) Paper presented at 2018 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition , Salt Lake City, Utah. 10.18260/1-2--30546

TY - CPAPER
AB - The National Center for Education Statistics reports that 52% of students in US K-12 public schools were eligible for free and reduced lunch during 2013-2014, up from 38 percent in 2000-2001. Research is needed to better understand how to create engaging and effective informal learning environments for this changing youth demographic. For instance, what are their interests? How can they be provided with experiences commensurate with peers who have greater opportunities? What are the aspirations of young people in middle-school who will be tomorrow’s leaders? To answer these questions, we developed Engineering Experiences, an out-of-school-time program providing youth from low-income families with engineering and technology experiences in atmospheric and related sciences.

Over the last two years, using a design-based research methodology, we have developed, implemented, and studied a semester-long, after school engineering program based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/Drones). Here, we report on the field trial of the final version of this program, and examine the efficacy of the program for increasing youth motivation and aspirations in STEM, enhancing their abilities to engage in engineering design processes, and for developing their capacity to use drones to address scientific and engineering problems. We also report on the changes the program has on youth perceptions of UAV/Drones: from considering UAVs as “toys” to realizing they can be used as “tools” to support of science and engineering practices.

To answer our research questions and to ensure that we were creating an engaging experience for this youth demographic, we generated a list of possible “high tech” projects (i.e., wind power, solar power, dropsonde, and other sensors platforms such as drones) and asked all youth to vote on their top preferences: students expressed an overwhelming interest in working with drones. The UAV curriculum was developed around three main segments: learning to fly, UAV performance tests, and UAV design challenges of carrying and retrieving a payload, and sensing a mock disaster area. The entire curriculum is organized around a realistic storyline in which students consider the needs of a small town to monitor conditions of a nearby volcano. Throughout the lessons, conditions change resulting in students needing to plan and implement survey and rescue activities using the UAVs. This 16-week long program was implemented with 12 middle-school students from low-income families. Student “flight log” booklets were used throughout the curriculum for intentional student reflection and a source of data. Both qualitative and quantitative data on student engagement, persistence, and competencies in engineering were collected, including surveys, short writing assignments, interviews and observations. Multiple surveys and interviews was administered to the youth to determine changes in their interests in engineering, changes perceptions about drones, their program experience, understanding of the engineering design process, reasons for attending the program, and help provide formative feedback to the curriculum team. Short writing assignments ask students to reflect on the relevance of engineering to their lives. Finally, observation data are used to provide insights on the level of engagement, and persistence of students in the program.

AU - Srinjita Bhaduri
AU - Katie Van Horne
AU - John Daniel Ristvey Jr.
AU - Randy Russell
AU - Tamara Sumner
CY - Salt Lake City, Utah
DA - 2018/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - From Toys to Tools: UAVs in Middle-school Engineering Education (RTP)
UR - https://strategy.asee.org/30546
DO - 10.18260/1-2--30546
ER -