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

We have developed, implemented, and studied a 16-week, afterschool engineering program aimed at low-income middle school youth. The curriculum is based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV/Drones), which participating youth must use and modify as appropriate to conduct a range of scientific investigations, culminating in the aerial survey of a mock town suffering from a natural disaster. Built into the curriculum are numerous opportunities for youth to reflect on the relevance of program activities to their interests and their lives, which prior research has suggested help to increase youth interest and persistence in STEM. Here, we report on the field trial 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 practices, and for developing their capacity to use UAVs to address scientific and engineering problems. We also report on the changes the program had on youth perceptions of UAV/Drones: from considering UAVs as “toys” to realizing they can be used as “tools” to support science and engineering practices.