Abstract:

Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) can be found in an ever-increasing set of applications. They are low-cost, offer great remote sensing capabilities, and are easy to fly. Thus, they constitute perhaps the most widely accessible aerospace technology demonstrator for the general public. UAS also present opportunities to leverage their capabilities for direct, community-relevant earth science programs. These have been shown throughout the literature to present engagement points in the STEM disciplines for traditionally underrepresented minorities (URM) and women.

Secondary school students are exhibiting an increasing interest in STEM fields and aerospace technologies, and concurrently there is a strong workforce development need. The development and the application of UAS is an ideal vehicle to introduce them to this field. However, there are a number of barriers that limit their use in the context of secondary school educational experiences. These are often simply rooted in financial constraints and teachers' unfamiliarity with the technology and its possible uses.

The work conducted here by the University of [anonymized] as part of a grant award from the [anonymized] Space Grant Consortium, aims to develop innovative pathways into STEM, specifically Aerospace Engineering, for secondary school students. As part of this initiative, a pilot project with [anonymized] High School has been conducted that engages students in citizen science activities that are of direct relevance to their community by using uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) to facilitate these activities.

The project is divided into two activities. The first focuses on supporting high school students and teachers in the safe operation of UAV systems. Activities developed as part of this work include developing training elements in the form of simulations and asynchronous online assignments that can be used by teachers and mentors to introduce basic UAV technology, regulatory frameworks, mission planning, and execution to the students.

The second element involves leveraging this UAS technology to support data collection for community science projects. A catalog of projects suitable for both drone operations and high school and community science has been developed by university earth science researchers that can be adapted to different high school environments and locations.

The pilot project consisted of drone-based water quality testing in [anonymized] coastal bays and streams, and students from [anonymized] High School have been collecting water samples using drones as an extracurricular activity. Student field trips were conducted over the summer and during the school year to monitor pH, alkalinity, calcium, metals, E. coli/ coliforms, water temperature, turbidity, and PFAS to determine the health of the streams to support the survival of freshwater species. Drone samples collected with the drones were analyzed for pH, alkalinity and turbidity. The project has been adopted in extracurricular club activities and an increasing number of curricular elements, with the participation of thirteen high school students at the extracurricular level, forty-nine at the curricular level, and three UMaine undergraduates. The project's goals include increasing high school student participation in STEM activities of direct societal relevance and introducing UAVs as vehicles to expose students to applicable research interests, aerospace technology, and related career paths.

Keywords:

Drones, UAS, K12, Aerospace.