Drone Coding Lab

 Drone Coding Lab

    In class, we had the opportunity to code Tello Drones. Thankfully, we got to have some background knowledge of how to use the Tello drone by exploring DroneBlocks Simulator We learned the basic information of how to connect the drone to what the terms mean to be able to code the drone. Here is a provided picture of the Tello Drone. 

CT Standards

1d: Develop resilience and perseverance when approaching CS and CT learning experiences, build comfort with ambiguity and open-ended problems, and see failure as an opportunity to learn and innovate.

2c: Choose teaching approaches that help to foster an inclusive computing culture, avoid stereotype threat and equitably engage all students.

3b: Apply effective teaching strategies to support student collaboration around computing, including pair programming, working in varying team roles, equitable workload distribution and project management.

3c: Plan collaboratively with other educators to create learning activities that cross disciplines to strengthen student understanding of CT and CS concepts and transfer application of knowledge in new contexts.

Lab Experience

    At first, we did have a little bit of trouble connecting the drones to the app DroneBlocks. After we got it connected, we were finally able to start our coding. Since this was our first time coding a drone, we started with something simple. The first code we did was to simply make the drone launch and hover. 

The second code we were able to try was a bit more complex, but overall really fascinating. During my exploration in the DroneBlocks, I was able to learn a lesson about how to loop and flip the drone. The code was not as difficult as I thought it would be because all we had to do was input the code and let the drone do its thing. Here is the code we used and the video provided of what the outcome was. 

Conclusion

    We ran out of time to try out different codes but overall the experience was so fun. I thought learning how to code would be difficult and scary, but in reality it is much easier than expected and a fun learning process. Overall, I am confident to say that I have completed CT standard 2c which is chosen teaching approaches that help to foster an inclusive computing culture, avoid stereotype threat and equitably engage all students and CT standard 3c: Plan collaboratively with other educators to create learning activities that cross disciplines to strengthen student understanding of CT and CS concepts and transfer application of knowledge in new contexts. I was able to use droneblocks simulator to to foster an inclusive computing culture that engaged all students and collaborated with my lab partner to try out a new learning activity