Audience
Educators
Grade Levels
Grades 5-8
Subject
Mathematics, Physical Science, Technology, Geometry, Measurement and Data Analysis, Problem Solving, Flight and Aeronautics, Robotics
Type
Lesson Plans / Activities
Students will engage in cooperative game play with other teams to simulate navigating an unmanned aerial vehicle or drone through a city from a given starting point to an ending point with the shortest flight path while avoiding obstacles. The team who discovers the shortest distance wins the game.
Students will:
- Use an x–y plane to plot coordinate pairs.
- Determine the distance between points on a coordinate plane by counting, using a ruler or applying the Pythagorean theorem or distance formula.
- Engage in computational thinking while exploring the challenges NASA engineers face while programming unmanned aircraft systems.
Common Core State Standards: 6.NS.C.6, 6.NS.C.6.B, C, 8.G.B.8
Activity Four: 3, 2, 1 … Lunch!
This lesson plan is part of the “Unmanned Aircraft Systems Educator Guide.”