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Building Tiny Drones Helps Students Learn About Science

In Newport News, Va., a five-part program has students build quadcopter drones, learn to fly them and put them through a competitive obstacle course.

(TNS) — The Newport News, Va., Public Library System just finished its UAVs 4 Me program that enables students 13 to 18 to build unmanned aerial vehicles from small robotics kits. The program is designed as a hands-on way to engage teenagers in critical thinking, problem-solving and decision-making as well as steer them toward science careers.

"Students learn and apply skills in math, electronics, aeronautics, physics and programming," teacher Chinell Little explained in a release. Little is a career and technical education lead teacher at Heritage High School, where the series wrapped up last week as part of the Governor's STEM Academy.

In the five-part program, students built quadcopter drones, learned to fly them and put them through a competitive obstacle course. The winner of that competition was Aaronique Lee, who won a Samsung Galaxy tablet.

UAVs 4 Me is one of several programs in Hampton Roads to entice young people into STEM careers.

Last month, NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton held a weeklong seminar for rising high school seniors to work out the logistics of a hypothetical mission to Mars. The seminar was part of the VASTS academy, or Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars, run by the Virginia Space Grant Consortium along with NASA Langley.

And every summer, the Virginia Space Flight Academy offers students ages 11 to 15 weeklong camps on the Eastern Shore to learn the basics of rockets and robots. The academy is a nonprofit partnership between NASA Wallops Flight Facility, the U.S. Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others.

The UAVs 4 Me program is funded with a grant from the Best Buy Foundation. Programs were held at the South Morrison Family Education Center and Heritage High's Governor's STEM Academy.

Now the library system is looking for two other schools or groups to host programs this fall. Hosting requires instruction space for 15 students and a ceiling clearance of at least 15 feet for UAV flight space.

©2015 the Daily Press (Newport News, Va.), Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.