Tulsa Teachers Go To Summer School To Learn Drone Building

A group of middle school teachers got a lesson in STEM education Thursday afternoon, learning how to build and fly drones.

The new skill could benefit future Oklahoma students.

Learning how to assemble and fly a drone probably isn’t in the teachers' job descriptions, and it shows; they were pretty bad at first.

"I was pretty bad. I crashed and lost a propeller," said Union teacher Blake Martin.

Union science teacher Janet Teel said, "No, this isn't - this is way out of my comfort zone."

But she said while it’s is a learning experience for the instructors, it will be ground-breaking for their students.

"It just gives them more opportunities to learn more and want more. It just flags such a desire to know more about what's outside the classroom," Teel said.

Eighteen teachers attended the one-day workshop sponsored by the Tulsa Regional STEM Alliance and local charity Flight Night.

Xan Black, director of the STEM Alliance, said it’s the first workshop in the country teaching middle school instructors how to design, build and fly quadcopters.

She said drones are everywhere now, so Oklahoma education should get on board.

"What a cool thing for students here in Oklahoma, which has such a rich aerospace history, to really embrace that and take aerospace to the next level, and these are the kids who could really do that," Black said.

Even if the drone industry isn't for them, teachers said their kids will learn a valuable lesson that's universal - learning is all about trial and error.

A group of high school teachers will take the drone workshop Friday, and next year it will be open to elementary instructors.

The best part is that it’s all free for the teachers.

You can find more information here.