Drones are set to change the way we work in so many ways and industries, as well as offering a raft of new leisure time activities from FPV racing to amateur flyers exercising their creative muscles to create their own aerial photographs and videos.  

Children in schools now will be tomorrow’s pilots, growing up alongside this amazing new technology and no doubt taking it further that we can imagine right now.

It makes perfect sense to us at Drone Safe Register to include resources about UAVs within the education system.  We want all pilots, even those that are still preparing for their futures, to be safe and responsible drone operators. Learning about drone safety early can be seen as an vital first step in protecting the future of our fledgling industry.

Drones can provide an engaging learning tool in a school environment and they sit at a very interesting intersection between art and science.  The creative aspects of filming and photographing from an aerial perspective can be used to satisfy the art and design elements of the National Curriculum.  The technology of these ‘flying robots’ can provide many learning opportunities from a STEM perspective. Plus they have the ‘cool factor’ that means that students can learn from using them without realising that they are in fact working.

Working with drones in a school environment allows students of mixed abilities and interests to explore their enthusiasm for technology in a positive way. They have grown up in a very different world to their parents and view technology as a natural part of their lives, as entertainment, a way of expressing themselves and a seamlessly integrated part of day to day living.  As the traditional lecture-based methods of teaching are replaced by hands on methods of learning, UAVs can play an interesting role.

Drones can provide a very tangible example of how STEM concepts can be used in the real world.  Learning to master drone flight covers maths and physics on the surface but also offers a whole host of incidental learning opportunities, not to mention encouraging other important skills such as teamwork and communication.

We look forward, as we expand our nationally available Drones for Schools Programme to other key stages, to seeing drones actually being brought into a classroom environment and their huge learning potential being leveraged.