New Junior High Course Takes Flight

Don’t be surprised if you see drones flying through the air in Ethan Hodge’s class at Liberty Junior.

Hodge teaches Flight & Space, a new semester elective for seventh and eighth graders offered through Lakota’s partnership with Butler Tech. Hodge, who also teachers Automation & Robotics, spent this past summer learning the Flight & Space course concepts, solving the challenges that are presented to students and preparing to teach the class.

It’s a project-based, hands-on class where students become engineers as they design, prototype, and test models to learn about the science of flight and what it takes to travel and live in space. 

After learning a little about the history of flight, the students took making paper airplanes to a new level by using the design process to test out and learn about forces of flight like lift and thrust. Students worked collaboratively to identify problems, apply what they know, persevere through challenges, find unique solutions, and lead their own learning. 

Kaiden, an eighth grader who is passionate about aviation and hopes to one day attend the U.S. Air Force Academy, really enjoyed the paper airplane unit. “It was neat to learn how flight control surfaces like the ailerons and rudder affect flight.”

Next, Hodge had students use the Codrone EDU drone to learn the basics of drone programming and operation. Students spent approximately 16-20 hours completing a series of drone challenges that required them to demonstrate their skill and proficiency in safely, correctly, and effectively using a drone. The Recreational UAS Safety Test (TRUST) drone certification is the culmination of their classroom experience with drones. This is a credential that students can list on their resumes, use in their personal lives, and possibly use as a stepping stone to use drones professionally in any number of fields.

“As a teacher, it’s always a highlight to see students ‘get it’ for the first time,” said Hodge. “So seeing them succeed on the first couple of drone challenges was a great treat for me. It was also rewarding to see students realize that drones are being used in many fields and how many different ways they could use their new skills.” 

Eighth-grader Quinn really enjoys hands-on learning and liked learning all the techniques to fly drones. “It would be neat to be able to use drones in the future to help find people who are lost.”

After the drone unit, students will spend the rest of the semester on space covering topics like moon landings and astronauts. They cap off the class by planning a landing on Mars.

Liberty Junior student Bailey is very interested in space, hoping to become an astronomer or astrophysicist. “I love that the class has a lot of projects where we get to apply what we learned to the real-world.”

“In junior high, it is all about career exploration,” said Hodge. “If we can plant a seed and get students to think about the possibilities, we are doing our job.”