New class lets Granton students build, program and fly drones

New technologies are being brought into the private sector at a rapid pace, and with the adoption of those technologies comes a need for individuals who know how to create and use it. Flying drones are one such technology that has been more common to see in the area in recent years, and a class at Granton is learning how to not only fly and use drones but also how to create and code the machines to work.

Kevin Pankratz is the Granton High School technology teacher and also teacher of the school’s new drone class that was started this semester for the first time. The class, he said, is one of the first of its kind in the area, and the lessons imparted to the students provide them with an opportunity to explore an area of technology that has not been widely used yet in classes.

“I wanted to do something different,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about drones when I started working on this class. I had just thought it would be interesting for students to have another opportunity to learn. As a school, we sometimes get the label of not having as much as everyone else, but we have a lot of the same technologies like 3D printers, lasers and plasma cutters. Everyone does those, but drones, that’s something else.”

Pankratz received approval to test run the drone class last year, beginning a period of time dedicated to researching drones that would be used for the class. Instead of looking at typical drone models, he instead looked at drones geared towards educational purposes, eventually settling on a pair of drones that have to be built and coded before getting a chance to fly them.

“I researched educational drones to get started,” he said. “I wanted there to be educational value to the project ... it’s different from just going to a store and buying a drone and flying it. What are you actually learning when you do that? This teaches them to program code, there is more planning. The goal was to make this educational for the kids and I think we’re accomplishing that.”

Once the drones were ordered, Pankratz said the next order of business was to select students for the class. Since it is a new class and the equipment is expensive, he said it was important to only choose a small number of students who were already known to be responsible and would take the class and its lessons seriously.

“There are three kids currently in the class,” he said. “When we put in for the class, we asked kids to sign up, but we were going to have the final say on who got to be in the class, we wanted a maximum of four because of the newness of the class. We wanted to choose responsible students, students that would take the class seriously and not screw around trying to crash the equipment. We eventually chose three responsible students, two of them are freshmen and one of them is a senior. They have been pretty good.”

For the class, Pankratz said the students started off by learning the background behind drone technology, and the many ways the technology is used, both today and in the past. From there, the students worked together to build each drone from the parts provided, and established a basic knowledge of flight and coding and wiring.

“The drones came in pieces, they had to put them together,” he said. “That’s part of the curriculum, actually putting it together is an essential part of that. We have gone through the history of drones and have worked on the principles of flights, terms of flight like pitch, fore and aft, rudders and what makes a plane fly. We have also worked on connections and coding, syncing the technology with the drones.”

One of the ways the students have been able to get a better understanding of flight, as well as practice how to fly their drones without crashing them, has been the addition of a flight simulator in the classroom.

“The (Granton School) Board also allowed us to purchase a flight simulator to help prepare the kids for learning how to fly without crashing the drones,” said Pankratz. “The kids learn how to work the controls and they are capable of flying planes and helicopters, and the simulator allows them to experiment with different types of aircraft and landing sites. It’s very cool.”

Besides learning how to fly and how to construct the drones, Pankratz said another important area of the class is learning how to program the drones to be able to fly.

“There is a lot of computer work to do,” he said. “After we get all of the coding done, we will be able to get into the flying. So far it has been very interesting. It has been very engaging, they have to learn the way the drones work. For example, the drones each have two green and two orange propellers, and motors that go in each. Two of the motors have to spin clockwise and the other counterclockwise so that it can fly. They have to figure out how all of that works and consider everything that goes with it. It is very much a STEM related project.”

After the students complete their work on the drones and learn how to properly fly them, Pankratz said he hopes they will be able to show their work to the other students during an assembly at the end of the school year. Hoping to inspire more interest among the students, he said the drones that were built by the class will remain fully assembled, with the next class building their own when it is offered again.

“The plan was to have the class take apart the drones at the end of the year to allow the next class to put it together, but there are so many little parts that could break from repeat projects,” he said. “So I think we will leave these two intact and have the next class build the new drones we are having come in. At the end of the year, I hope we can have an assembly with the students in the fieldhouse and be able to show all the students what we were able to accomplish in our drones class.”

Beyond this year, Pankratz said the direction of the drone class could really go anywhere. With so many aspects from building and coding to flying, he said there are many areas students can explore and experiment with the technology, and perhaps even inspire careers or hobbies in drone flying.

“Right now the plan is to have the class every other year,” he said. “I definitely would like to expand the class, like get drones from different companies and see the difference between big drones and smaller drones. Some of these drones require you to follow FAA regulations, so we could even go the route of getting students FAA certified to become drone pilots. We could expand a lot on the class, we’re just scratching the surface.”

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO