Flying High: Using Drones to Inspire the Future Leaders of STEM

Have you ever seen a drone flying and wondered who designed it? How would you feel if that designer was a child? How would you feel if your drone flight inspired a young girl to love STEM? This is Elaine’s and her team’s goal.

Elaine has been working as a research and development, QA Chemist with regulatory knowledge for 10 years. She fell into science education through informal STEM instruction, eventually making the transition into formal education. Elaine has gone back to school to receive both a master’s and a doctorate degree in science education.

She and her team are inspiring young leaders by showing STEM careers can be fun. By providing hands-on lessons with drones, they allow students to see a future in the field. It was so much more than learning about aerodynamics. They walked us through their curriculum, which includes hands-on learning by building your own drone and programming it before you even fly it.

Not only are students learning about the how and what these drones do, they build them and are connecting with actual professionals as they do. Elaine and her team gave us the insider look on what it takes to integrate real-world technology skills into informal education.

Catch the replay of their Maker Faire session to see the excitement for yourself!