DroneBlocks curriculum: hands-on coding with Crazyflie Nano

With the rising deal with STEAM schooling, the demand for participating, hands-on studying instruments is extra crucial than ever. DroneBlocks has grow to be a well-liked selection for educators seeking to carry drones into the classroom, providing a complete curriculum that caters to varied ability ranges. So is DroneBlocks curriculum any good, and what’s it like?

I’m a former instructor, with 6 years of expertise educating early elementary. After that, I used to be an elementary faculty principal for five years. I’ve seen my justifiable share of curriculum, so I used to be wanting to see what DroneBlocks would train. Whereas I’ve by no means beforehand reviewed a drone curriculum earlier than, I put this one to the take a look at, going via it myself with a crucial, principal’s eye.

Right here’s my overview of the DroneBlocks curriculum, and my suggestion of what kinds of school rooms it’s good for.

DroneBlocks goes past conventional digital coding instruments and classroom robots by introducing college students to programming via drones. The system offers skilled improvement assets for lecturers, coding platforms for college kids, and a user-friendly app that makes it simple to entry coding classes proper within the classroom.

Utilizing the Crazyflie Nano drone, college students can program flight patterns, actions, and instructions with block-based or text-based coding.

DroneBlocks curriculum price (and else you want what you’ll want)

DroneBlocks gives a curriculum bundle priced at $495 per 12 months, granting entry to over 40 programs that cowl a variety of subjects. From drag-and-drop block coding to superior programming in Python and JavaScript, the curriculum is designed to accommodate completely different studying phases and scholar skills.

A standout function of the curriculum is the inclusion of a drone simulator. With it, college students can observe coding and flight expertise in a digital surroundings earlier than flying actual drones.

Initially designed for the DJI Tello, DroneBlocks shifted to utilizing the Crazyflie Nano after DJI stopped producing the Tello. The Crazyflie Nano is accessible for buy on their web site individually or in bulk packages of 10 drones. (This system nonetheless helps the DJI Tello EDU.)

Whereas there are nonetheless some references to the DJI Tello all through the curriculum, they’re minimal and unlikely to confuse college students or lecturers. (DroneBlocks is engaged on updating these references to align with the Crazyflie.)

The Crazyflie drone

Weighing simply 27 grams and becoming comfortably within the palm of your hand, the Crazyflie Nano is ideal for indoor use, making it ultimate for classroom settings. Its small dimension reduces the danger of harm to the drone and the environment, making it a secure and manageable possibility for college kids studying to code and fly.

The Crazyflie Nano has a comparatively brief flight time of simply 8 minutes, with professionals and cons. Whereas it is likely to be a brief interval for college kids wanting to fly the drones, it additionally means educators want to seek out time to cost them between courses. Thankfully, the Crazyflie Nano expenses shortly.

Nevertheless, the brief flight time encourages college students to deal with coding and problem-solving. When working via simulations, they’ll want to consider carefully about essentially the most environment friendly coding course of to get from level A to level B.

Along with the drones, college students will want entry to computer systems. Many faculties use Chromebooks, however any laptop computer is suitable. You’ll want at the very least as many laptops as drones.

DroneBlocks: skilled improvement

Each yearly DroneBlocks curriculum buy features a free 2-hour skilled improvement session. The session could be attended by any variety of lecturers, and I’d suggest sending all educators who will likely be utilizing the curriculum.

Colleges can select a time slot that matches their schedule, although it’s a good suggestion to plan as slots refill shortly. This 2-hour coaching isn’t only a generic overview. It’s a tailor-made expertise that may be custom-made to suit lecturers’ wants, pursuits, and questions.

The session covers the whole lot from getting began with the drones to troubleshooting connection points, with a deal with sensible classroom purposes. The coaching doesn’t cease on the fundamentals—DroneBlocks offers further instruments like Miro boards for lesson planning and a customized jobs wheel program for classroom administration. These considerate touches present that DroneBlocks understands the distinctive challenges educators face and is dedicated to supporting them each step of the best way.

Whereas lecturers might discover it powerful to suit one other two hours of coaching into their schedule, this specific coaching feels useful, informative, and like a common good use of time.

Given this system’s price (particularly with the added expense of drones), investing in instructor studying is important.

A glance contained in the DroneBlocks curriculum

The DroneBlocks curriculum principally hones in on educating college students methods to code. It’s damaged into varied classes that every entail 2-10 video classes. Most movies are about 5 minutes lengthy.

Nevertheless, lecturers shouldn’t anticipate to easily play the movies day by day as an educational software. Like every curriculum, lecturers might want to spend time reviewing the supplies and making a plan that works greatest for his or her classroom.

{Hardware} classes

Nevertheless, it does train sensible constructing, too. For instance, the primary course covers methods to construct the Crazyflie Nano drone. The meeting course of took me about quarter-hour, guided by a principally useful video tutorial that was a bit tough to comply with at occasions. In a classroom setting, this might take at the very least half-hour, so it’s a good suggestion for lecturers to construct a drone earlier than this class and have a transparent system in place for labeling and storing the drones.

Whereas difficult, the meeting course of gives a superb alternative for hands-on studying, educating college students not simply methods to fly drones but additionally how they work.

Printed directions with clearer photos would have made the method smoother, and sadly, DroneBlocks doesn’t provide printed supplies for many programs. Nevertheless, the trial and error concerned in constructing the Crazyflie Nano provides to the training expertise. College students would seemingly profit from the chance to problem-solve and troubleshoot throughout meeting, getting ready them for the challenges they might face in coding and flying.

Software program classes

A standout course is “Welcome to Mars,” which challenges college students to program their drones to navigate a simulated Martian panorama, mixing coding with creativity and problem-solving. The curriculum creates backstories for why college students want to finish missions, which helps construct engagement.

One other standout course is Block Coding – Math Version, which integrates coding workout routines with math issues. This course is ideal for lecturers seeking to incorporate extra STEM content material into their classes, because it encourages college students to use their coding expertise in a mathematical context. The mix of coding and math creates a dynamic studying expertise that retains college students engaged and challenged. This course additionally comes with printable worksheets that align with the teachings, a function I want all programs included.

Who’s the DroneBlocks curriculum for?

The DroneBlocks curriculum, paired with the Crazyflie Nano drone, gives a wealthy and fascinating instructional expertise. The curriculum is comparatively inexpensive in comparison with others, however the startup prices could be important, particularly when investing in Crazyflie drones.

College directors contemplating this curriculum ought to guarantee there’s a devoted instructor who’s captivated with STEM, extremely organized, and planning to remain on the faculty for just a few years.

Subsequent, guarantee you could have time within the schedule to include this program, together with the required supplies and correct classroom storage for the drones. In case you have all these components in place, the DroneBlocks curriculum could be a implausible addition to any STEM program, combining the thrill of drone know-how with the academic advantages of coding.

Should you’re enthusiastic about this system however don’t have the whole lot in place but, think about beginning small. You could possibly buy one Crazyflie drone and have lecturers do just a few whole-group actions, train coding in small teams, or run an after-school program. From there, you’ll be able to develop this system by buying extra drones. Take a look at DroneBlocks right here.

Associated