UL Students Explore Coding through Drones

By Head of Community Engagement Gordon Mathis

Can learning to code be fun?

Of course it can! In MariaPaola Jimenez’s UL course Coding: from Apps to Drones, students are “tricked” into learning how to code by launching mini-drones. The school has offered this hands-on course since the 2018-19 school year. Everyone wants to fly a drone – it is an “excuse” to learn the more sophisticated programming language of Python which students learn to control the drones. They write lines of code to manipulate the drone over the course of the four-week project.

Students first learn to think computationally – thinking through a plan for drones to take-off and land. They then program the drones to fly in a square by commanding the drone to turn at a 90° angle. Students then use their geometry skills to program their drones to fly in the shape of a triangle (60°) and a star (36°). 

That is not all!  While the drones are in flight, the students program the “Golden Tree” of aircraft – pitch (going up or down), yaw (left or right motion), and roll (three different rotations). The culminating event is dramatic, as students command the drones to maneuver through a routine incorporating the range of movements. Thanks to Ms. Jimenez’s engaging teaching style, learning to code at Galloway is fun, dramatic, exciting – and most of all, educational. 

For more information about the ways in which Galloway incorporates technology into everyday learning, check out our Technology Integration video below!