Middle Schoolers Using Drones To Prepare For Future

Students at Neil Armstrong Middle School in Bristol Township have been taking to the skies this school year.

Middle schoolers in teacher Matthew Hayden’s classes are flying a group of lightweight drones that are being used in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics lessons. His students recently told LevittownNow.com the drones are fun and also have required them to develop a number of skills.

The rise of robots, automation, and drones are some of the reasons Hayden feels the small flying devices are important to integrate into classes. While explaining the various uses for the drones in his classroom, Hayden also rattled off the various real-life uses for drones and how students will most likely run into them as they grow up and start their careers.

“They learned about the physics of flight, the weather, and the ethics of flying drones,” Hayden explained.

The drones are mainly flown indoors and don’t go very high, which means that students do not need any licenses from the Federal Aviation Administration.

The small devices can go up, down, side-to-side, and even have little arms to grab onto small items. Students are able to fly them and plan out new uses for them.

Hayden and fellow educator Joe Marlow talked about how the students used the drones to fly streamers held up by the mechanical arms at a recent pep rally at Armstrong.

“It was pretty cool,” Marlow said.

Seventh grader Eric Crawley said he really enjoyed using the drones at the pep rally.

“I hope to fly them more and at football games,” he said.

“I think the drones are a good way for everyone to learn and how to learn different skills,” seventh grader Teagan Heston said.

Hayden won the drones through a contest by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, which is operated by the U.S. Department of Energy.

“What we’re doing now (with drones) is something kids learn in college or at a job,” Hayden said. “We’re doing it in seventh grade.”

“We’re preparing them for jobs that don’t even exist yet,” he added.

As the years have progressed, drones have become cheaper and have more features, Hayden said.

Down the road, Hayden is looking at larger drones with even more capabilities.