Drone Workshop

The image above was taken on August 7th, when secondary students (from Grade 7 to Grade 12, CBSE and IGCSE combined) were in the process of constructing their planes.

A 4-day workshop was conducted on our school grounds, where students collaborated to create a replica of an RCT plane and tested their efforts by flying it. The workshop commenced on Monday with a team from Electrocomps, whose objective was to teach students about model construction and the engineering principles behind the plane. They spent the first two days with primary students and the last two with secondary students. Being part of the workshop gave students a deeper insight into how aerodynamics influence a flying plane and how it is designed to withstand the forces acting upon it.

As and A level students stand proudly behind the drones that they have built

Students were also encouraged to exercise creativity by naming their teams, designing the body of the plane, and collaborating with peers. The school provided this wonderful opportunity to broaden STEM knowledge, with every student being assigned individual responsibilities within their teams. Although some of the equipment supplied was defective, the team members managed to troubleshoot each issue and keep the project progressing.

The workshop was partially supervised by teachers, some of whom also participated in a few of the lectures delivered by the Electrocomps team. It was evident that they found the subject genuinely fascinating.

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A teacher's perspective:

The IT teacher for students of Grades 11 and 12 shared his opinion about the workshop, stating that he felt more improvements could have been made in its execution. The lack of sufficient time was particularly noteworthy, as it seemed restrictive for the students. Ideally, the students themselves should have handled more of the building process, such as applying super glue and managing the technical aspects.

Dividing students according to their grade levels could also have fostered better teamwork. However, he acknowledged that the workshop was a remarkable initiative, as students were given the chance to explore aerodynamics. Objectively, he appreciated about 40% of the workshop and felt that the remaining 60% had scope for improvement.