Integrating Drones into a Natural-Resource Curriculum at Stephen F. Austin State University (original) (raw)
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Undergraduate students pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Forestry (BSF) at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) within the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture (ATCOFA) attend an intensive 6-week hands-on instruction in applied field methods. The second week of field station is focused on land measurement activities to introduce students to practical, hands-on, and technology based ways to survey forest boundaries. On Monday of the second week students are introduced to the concepts of how to use a handheld compass to navigate from point to point, use a consumer-grade handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) unit for collecting the geographic coordinates of given locations, use a GPS unit to calculate the area of a forest opening, use a GPS unit to walk and record a forest hiking trail, and evaluate the accuracy of their GPS derived locations via a Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) analysis. RMSE analysis between a students collected geographic coordinates and the instr...
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Innovative Earth science educators are often looking for new ways to use technology to both teach modern Earth science and to use emerging technology to capture students' interests. In recent years, off-the-shelf drone aviation technology has simultaneously become amazingly user-friendly and inexpensive enough to be within reach of many classroom Earth science teachers. One only has to unveil a drone to students to hear their gasps of wonder and excitement. In response, teachers are finding ways to use the natural excitement surrounding drones to actively engage students in perfecting their developing: precision flight skills to uniquely capture scientific images and data, efficient computer coding techniques for autonomous mapping flights, knowledge and understanding of FAA requirements for safe and legal drone piloting, understanding of transient weather conditions, and abilities in cinematic video editing to communicate scientific evidence and conclusions. To encourage student learning in these domains, we are initiating drone competitions across the state to help students highlight and celebrate their achievements.
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Shodh Sari-An International Multidisciplinary Journal, 2023
Drone application and implementation in various domains of work and life have transformed technology in numerous ways. Drone technology has greatly benefited various industries while also making the lives of various professionals easier in completing complex tasks in a short period. Studies proved that by introducing drones into classrooms, teachers would have a new means to make learning more fun, innovative, interactive, and collaborative for students. Drones can be applied in challenging subjects like sciences: Computer science, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, and others to clear off difficulties in some abstract concepts by giving real-world applications to the problems. However, some teachers are skeptical of the use of drones in science teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers' actions and reactions to the application and implementation of drone technology in the classroom. It goes on to explain how teachers' knowledge and professional development, students' attention being diverted to technology design and models rather than learning outcomes, a lack of adequate technical support, and fear of technological maintenance cost and sustainability all serve as barriers to proper drone implementation in the classroom. Using Google Forms, teachers (both pre-service and in-service) were asked how the aforementioned factors affect drone application. Given the time constraints for this study, a purposive sampling approach was used to recruit 60 respondents. The instrument's contents were validated with the use of the 'face validity' method. The 0.77 reliability index demonstrated that the instrument's reliability strengths were accurately positive. The collected and compiled results were analyzed
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With the growing search for qualified professionals in the exact area, teaching in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) areas is gaining importance. In parallel, it appears that drones are an increasingly present reality in the civil area; however, there are few scientific studies of their application in the pedagogical environment, and their insertion is still practically nil in the school environment. Thus, this work aims to analyze the feasibility of using a set of technologies based on drones, designed based on the theory of significant learning through the use of active methodologies. The study was carried out with 30 high school students and followed a line of quali-quantitative analysis, in which the quantitative data were collected from the results obtained in a pre and post-test and the qualitative ones through recordings during the interventions, observations of the researcher, and a semi-structured press interview. Finally, a triangulation between the methodologies was carried out, looking for congruent aspects between the different techniques used. As a result, it was found that the workshops with the platform based on drones helped in the understanding, construction, and interpretation of the content covered, and it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between the use of the technological set proposed in the pedagogical process and the possibility of significant learning in the STEM areas by the students.
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This study practices programming education using a drone in an elementary school and examines the effects on understanding the necessity of using technology in the industry. Before and after the class, students were asked to respond to a questionnaire survey about their awareness of participation in rice cultivation and to describe the jobs they thought were related to rice cultivation. After the class, students were asked to describe their image of rice cultivation in free text. From the questionnaire survey and the descriptions of jobs considered to be related to rice cultivation, it was suggested that programming education using drones was effective in reminding students of the use of drones for rice cultivation and fostering a sense of participation in rice cultivation. The results of the text mining analysis of the image of rice cultivation suggest that the experience of programming education using drones promotes thinking about the necessity of using drones for rice cultivation and the necessity of future rice cultivation, such as reconsidering the role of humans. Therefore, the results suggest that the experience of programming education using drones promotes thinking about the necessity of using drones for rice cultivation and what is necessary for future rice cultivation, such as reconsidering the role of humans.
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Conservation scientists are looking to widen their lens on the landscapes they seek to protect. Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) fitted with Geographic Information Systems (GIS), ecologists hope to hone their abilities to account for and render visible precious wildlife and to better allocate resources for governing environments. What can a close analysis of the development of UAS tell us about conservation science itself and its relationship to GIS technologies? This article uses the example of the development of UAS by innovators at the University of Florida’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Research Program (UASRP) to explore the governing rationalities undergirding growing excitement for drone technologies in conservation practice, to understand the historical continuities these novel machines embody, and to reveal a multidimensional understanding of the motivations and logics of contemporary conservation science.
Learning with Drones: flying windows for classroom virtual field trips
Fieldwork is widely considered as a vital part of undergraduate science and sustainability education. Virtual field trips (VFT) provide the possibility for students to participate in field trips from remote locations through live conferencing. In this study, we will examine whether drone-based virtual field trips can maintain the advantages of VFT and also address some of their shortcomings in order to become a viable alternative to real field trips. For the purpose of the study, participants in a course for Education for Sustainability of a Primary Education Department were randomly assigned in two groups. 26 students in the first group made a predetermined visit to a city while a second group of 15 students followed their route through the city by watching a live broadcasted video from a drone in the university lab. Students supported that the two approaches are of equivalent value with each one having its own advantages and problems. Students indicated that drone-based VFT offered an enjoyable and intriguing learning way and provided some advantages over the actual field trips, like the more detailed view in higher altitudes and a better overview of the field under examination, both important elements of fieldwork. Nevertheless, drone-base VFT do not offer adequate details of the field in the human-eye level and do not convey the non-visual and aural feelings of being in the place. Drones; drones in education; field trips; virtual field trips; Education for Sustainability
The Effect of Drones in the Educational Process: A Systematic Review
Education Sciences MDPI, 2024
Due to COVID-19, Industry 4.0 technologies have been deeply integrated into our lives, making it possible to interact, learn, and be productive. The rise of ICT has been established for a lot of years, transforming the educational process of many students with more and more educators applying them in school settings and considering them an essential part of teaching. ICT constantly evolves incorporates and utilizes all the recent and cutting-edge technology to help learners interact and learn in the most engaging and motivating way. The purpose of this literature review is to investigate a very fascinating and promising piece of robotic technology called a drone or unmanned aerial vehicle and how it has been integrated and utilized in the educational process of students to date. In the introduction, the main adoptions of ICT and drones are discussed. In the main part, we explore the possibilities and the applications of drone technology in the educational path from analysis of included studies and research, as well as discussing the students’ and teachers’ perceptions of their use. The results of this study of the application of drones in education show promising effects among students and teachers, but several limitations were identified, making it still difficult to generalize their use in the educational process. Furthermore, a need for a unified framework for reference is needed to be able to accommodate their use in school and academic environments.