The History of Drones in K-12 Education

Every time something new, innovative or high-tech comes into the picture, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) community gets excited. 

Because any day we get an opportunity to facilitate hands-on learning experiences is a really good day indeed. 

As we get excited about the quickly changing world of drones and how we incorporate them into the classroom, we wanted to recap a general timeline of drones in education:

• 2014 – Recreational drones were on the market and sometimes used on sports fields for out-of-class learning experiences, specifically focused on mathematics and engineering for upper grade schoolers.

• 2015 – Drone technology was refined, and prices began to drop, which made drones much easier for schools to get their hands on, albeit with low adoption rates at first.

• 2016-2017 – Drones in education launched (pun intended) worldwide, with college research departments, business development clubs, and more using them on a more regular basis.

• 2018 – Drones started showing up as a regularly featured part of education technology, and were increasingly used both outdoors and indoors, especially as they became safer.

• 2019 – Drones were firmly established as a key way to teach kids grades K-12 important STEM skills (in the USA), especially targeted for computer programming, photography, and STEM career prep.

• 2020-2021 – Drones in schools are everywhere: older students are getting FAA certifications, robotics students are building their own drones, and learners as young as kindergarteners are using drone STEM curriculum to program and operate drones.

Outside of education, drones have been readily and thoroughly assimilated into operations for industries from real estate to medicine to supply chain management. 

For school administrators and educators, it is important they help students understand how Drones can affect and are the FUTURE!

Download Our Drones One-Pager here

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