Drones rocket student learning into the future at Lawton school

For the couple of dozen students at the Life Ready Center Tuesday morning, “droning” on about the future world touched through STEM learning was welcome.

Because, following discussion by Brandon Turk from Rocket Drones, they were at the controls of some of those drones and, like their imaginations, they took flight inside the campus gym.

Lawton Public Schools Assistant Director of Educational Technology Vanessa Perez said it’s the future happening now and the direction the students’ learning needs to go to grow into the burgeoning workforce where STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is becoming an indelible part. She called it “an incredibly fast growing industry.” She cited Fort Sill’s drone training program and FISTA as a couple of examples close to home.

“This is where we’re going,” she said, “and we need to encourage and embrace it and go forward.”

Turk was making his first Oklahoma presentation at the Lawton campus. He is among the Rocket Drones team making presentations in schools across the country to demonstrate how drone racing fits into education. Rocket Drones, in partnership with Lawton Public Schools, demonstrated the new school esport and STEAM program for middle and high schools, as well as served as introduction to the Oklahoma Schools Drone Association, according to Perez.

“That speaks a lot to the possibilities,” she said.

The mission of Rocket Drones is to expose students to the world of drones and help them develop the skills and certifications necessary to succeed in various technology-related careers.

Rocket Drones bridges the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications.

During discussion with the students Tuesday morning, Burk shared how once established, the student drone teams can compete virtually against teams from anywhere.

The experience gleaned from these competitions can apply to almost any future career, Burk said. From military to mapping to piloting cameras during a cinematic production to almost anything else you can think of, the world is at their fingertips.

Burk explained how physics and geometry play into drone piloting while plotting the moves to film cars racing as an example. It all comes back to gaming experience, he said.

“Why and how would racing prepare you for a job?” he asked.

One example, according to Burk is timing. Learning how to finesse the virtual piloting, driven with a controller much like for an Xbox or a Playstation, allows the burgeoning pilots to master the skills without the trial and error that could damage expensive drones.

It’s not always about flying through the skies, according to Burk. “Drones are not just in the air,” he said. “Drones are used in every field now, or will be.”

Unmanned controlled machinery can be used in farming or underwater, according to Burk. Wherever you can imagine, it will be the terrain of the future.

Citing a third grader named Romeo’s development of a drone to handle mopping the floor, Burk said it was brilliant. Romeo developed one arm to vacuum before mopping, a second to mop the floor and a tail outfitted with a leaf blower to air dry the surface.

“The ideas y’all come up with, those are our future,” he said. “We want you thinking out of the box ridiculous. The science fiction back in the day is what we’re using right now.”