Falcon Cove Middle School launched a drone racing club this year and it has taken off. The club meets every other week before school for students to practice racing LocoDrones.
“LocoDrone stands for Low Cost Drone and they are manufactured specifically with education in mind,” explains Computer Science Teacher Jaymi Feller. “The drones are used in a special extended curriculum that teaches Python coding, which is currently offered in the High School Advanced Information Technology course at Falcon Cove. The drones were made with no yaw (twisting or oscillation) and have a flight height of ten feet to be used inside a classroom.”
The school’s micro-computer tech specialists Raphael Maass and Farith Nader sponsor the Falcon Cove Racing Drone Club. It currently has 14 pilots and new members are welcome.
According to Mr. Maass, during the club meetings members race drones in courses set up around the school. “We also instruct and monitor drone performance optimization, repair, and of course, flying.”
Although for many people flying drones is a hobby, much like remote control vehicles were decades ago, Mr. Maass says students are learning important STEM skills from this club. “Through the activity of drone preparation, maintenance and flying, students will acquire knowledge of electronics and coding and will put those skills into real-world effect right away. The way their modifications, including coding, impact flight behavior in a very real and almost instantaneous way links the theoretical to reality in a very effective manner.”
Falcon Cove is part of the Broward County Drone League, which sponsors competitive races between schools. Mr. Maass says the league also provides technical support and guidance on equipment and activities. The team is currently practicing for its first competition, which will take place next month at Miramar High School.
Falcon Cove is one of six Broward County Public Schools middle schools to offer a LocoDrone program this year. Loco Robo Drone offers complete robotics and coding ecosystem that provides industry-standard skills, including aerial technology and space application that use science, physics, and computer coding.