Podcast - Alissa Kerr - Drone Designers
PCS: Welcome to the PCS Edventures Educator Spotlight Series. Today we are speaking with Alissa Kerr, an educator who dreamt about bringing drones into her computer science, robotics, and engineering classroom. That dream became a reality when her application was accepted for Iowa’s STEM Scale-Up Program.
In this episode we explore how students are not just building drones – they are also building problem solving skills that transcend beyond the classroom.
Alissa Kerr: My name is Alyssa Kerr. I am a computer science, robotics, and engineering teacher. I teach seventh through twelfth grade – so most of my time is seventh and eighth graders. I teach a seventh grade computer science class, an eighth grade computer science class and robotics one year – and then next year's engineering. And then I teach two different high school classes-- AP computer Science principles and AP CSA.
Renée Lucchesi: All right. You told me a little bit about your program and the students you work with. What was the biggest challenge with planning hands-on learning or STEM activities?
Alissa Kerr: The biggest thing keeping kids on track with what they're supposed to be doing. Like, a lot of times they get excited about certain things and they kind of want to go off in a different direction. Which to a certain extent - I like to give enough time so they can do that, because I think exploring is a really great way to learn. So I try to build that into the schedule as well – that they can kind of just try some things out and experiment a little bit. The other big thing would be materials management, like making sure that they're taking good care of the materials and keeping track of them. And we're not being careless of what we have.
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah. Do you have assistance or something to help you with that or…
Alissa Kerr: Like people?
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah. Like students, maybe?
Alissa Kerr: My assistants – I mean, I've got systems in place.
Renée Lucchesi: Systems.
Alissa Kerr: Yeah, yeah. Systems in place. Like, you know, teaching the routines. I mean and I know we got set up with colored bags and some things like that to kind of create some systems. I mean, obviously you've got to adjust what's in your classroom. So instead I've got bins. Each of the drones is named. There's Glo, Max, Buzz and there's one named Tim. Everybody wants Tim to be there. But then – so the drones labeled and the controllers labeled. And then their bin is labeled and the box is labeled and each one's a different color. Each one has a different name and a different number. Just little things like that, too, will make kids feel like it's a little more official and they've got to be more careful. And they feel some responsibility over taking good care of Glo, because Glo is theirs. So, like, instill some of that into it. But then setting a timer at the end of class so they've got enough time to put all their materials away the way they should and make sure they get batteries plugged in – which obviously you don't want to leave those overnight. So I've got a system where they put the batteries in and make sure that I check those before I leave so that those are put into the light bulb bag. So yeah, we try and avoid explosions in the classroom when we can.
Renée Lucchesi: Okay. Thank you. Um, what were you hoping to find in a solution?
Alissa Kerr: Self-sustaining systems. So something that I don't have to constantly work at. So try and set up things. Again, like the alarm that goes off that gives us time to clean up. So I don't have to keep looking at the clock and keeping track of it. The alarm goes off and they know exactly what they're supposed to be doing at the time. So once we take the time to set up a system – it takes care of itself and everything's good.
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah, great. Walk me back to the moment you first opened the box. What was your immediate reaction?
Alissa Kerr: I have been wanting drones for a while for my classroom. I told my principal - like, I had been talking about drones and saying, “Maybe I could do a light show.” I don't have what it takes to do a light show just yet. It's okay. I've done an artistic show. I've proven some things. When I saw that we could do the Scale up Program, I said something to him and I went back to my room and I wrote it. And it was funny because I was about ready to hand it to him. Just like, “All you have to do is sign.” And then the superintendent emailed both of us saying, “Hey, I think you guys should apply for this.” And I sent an email back saying I've already got the grant written. And then I ran and told my principal like, uh yeah, the grant is written. So like pure excitement when I got to open up, like, ah, I've got the drones. I've been dreaming about this for a couple of years and to get them and to really get in and do it. I was just excited for me, excited for the kids. Excited that coding was going to be a little more fun this year.
Renée Lucchesi: That's a great story about the grant. And compared to sourcing materials yourself, how significant were the time savings?
Alissa Kerr: Obviously that's everything because there's certain things you can’t – like you know setting up the system. You have as many things in place to have a system ready to go, but there’s still some work that needs to be done. When you can take things off my plate in terms of all the materials were just there – and all I had to do was just put them in a place where the kids would have access to them. And I don't have to think about ordering them and the decision making is so hard. You know, like, what exactly should I order? I’ve gotten lists from other things because I do a lot of hands-on things. You get a list of what they recommend and you're like, do I really need all that? How can I cut corners a little bit? Because budgets are tight and my storage area is filled with what I call good trash. Because like I say, if you like recyclable things they can build with that. And so I'm always trying to cut corners like that and so just to have the materials that I need without having to make decisions and then try and scavenge things where I can-- just enormous – what a time saver. I can't even express what a difference that makes.
Renée Lucchesi: That's amazing. Can you describe a specific time when a student had an aha moment?
Alissa Kerr: Biggest one that comes to mind and probably seventy five percent of the kids go through this. The controllers for the drones – when they code and everyone in the group has to code on their computer and then they have to switch the controller to another computer to try out their code – so that everybody gets a chance to do that. It won't just switch over. You've got to restart the controller. Now when you try and push the power button, it doesn't power down. So at this point, I make them do some problem solving which is such an important life skill that a lot of kids are lacking. Like, okay, so you feel like you should restart it – which is good. The power button's not working. What could you possibly do to force it to restart if the power button isn't working? And they just want an answer and I won't give it to them. But when they realize – I just need to cut the power. I just need to open it up and take out a battery. And they determine, like how do you get the batteries out? You can do this. I believe in your ability to find out where the battery is at. And again, you think about life – like are they going to fly drones in life? A lot of them probably aren't. But are they going to face problems in life with no one telling them what to do? Yeah, I can guarantee that's going to happen. So when they get a chance to figure out a problem on their own and get that feeling of self-agency that's a light bulb moment that I get to see over half the kids have in the classroom.
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah. Problem solving. Collaborating. Yeah. Were there any peer teaching moments or collaborations in the classroom?
Alissa Kerr: A lot of those. So the fifty percent of kids that don't have me problem solve the battery bit, that's because someone else helped them figure it out. Probably my favorite though, is I have a girl in the classroom who's kind of a loner. In her group she's got a kid with bigger needs and she got to kind of figure out on her own and she's feeling good. And then this other kid comes in and she can be a leader and teach someone and he is so excited about the drones. He is hanging on her every word. Just seeing her like, hey, I've got something valuable to add and someone really wants to hear what I have to say about it. It was fun to see.
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah. Get her to be a leader. Speaking to other educators who might be hesitant, why should they give this PCs program a try?
Alissa Kerr: The difference it makes in the kids. Before school starts and the kids do the meet the teacher night and I tell them, “I've got drones” – they're excited. They're excited about my class. They're excited to come to school. So the way my class works, too, is I get a group for six weeks – of seventh graders, and then they move on to another class and I get a new group. So every six weeks I get a new group. The minute they walk in my room they know they're going to get some drone time in there. And we got to go through a few other things before we get to the drones, that's kind of what they're working for. And so the excitement about coding is just night and day. There's something about when you're looking at the screen trying to code something just to make something happen on screen. That is fun for some kids. But I will be honest, a number of kids it's not. Every kid wants to code the drones. So I did this last group – I did the walk the dog activity which they really enjoyed. The controllers – like that was a fun contest. But then after that, no more controllers, it's only coding. You're only getting those drones up by coding and they want to get on and code. If you want to get your kids excited about it, drones are the best thing I've seen.
Renée Lucchesi: Yes, That's the main selling point. Yes. Great. What advice would you give to colleagues new to using Stem programs?
Alissa Kerr: Probably kind of going back to materials, like, think about your materials management. How you're going to organize that – getting a system in place. So it kind of takes care of itself because stuff can get scattered. If you don't set that timer and have that clean up time, they will leave everything sitting out and leave you to clean it up – which makes it seem like a burden as opposed to a gift. So, having a set way that you're organizing your materials and taking that time up front to teach your system to the students so that it kind of runs itself and it doesn't take extra time on your part.
Renée Lucchesi: Mhm. Great. And now that you've had so much success, I'd love to hear about creative ways you've adapted or extended the lessons.
Alissa Kerr: One of the biggest things would be the safety instructions were pretty wordy which is fine the first time because we watched the safety video, we talked through the safety instructions and my final thing on it is – I will ban you from flying drones the entire time if you can't handle it. Because we're not buying new drones for you to keep breaking them. So I want to reiterate those same safety instructions on other days because they need to hear them over and over again. So I created a much less wordy version of it. So kind of a reminder like safety glasses. They don't need the whole sentence. It's easier to go over those on a regular basis. The other thing that they have a tendency to forget too, is when that drone – like they'll code it and it'll get stuck up on the ceiling over a lot of kids. And they panic. They have no clue how to get that drone down all of a sudden. You know, they kind of freeze. So I'm making a big poster – press L1 and pull down for three seconds and that'll get your drone to come down. They need that. Is it entirely creative? No. But is it necessary? Yeah.
Renée Lucchesi: Yeah. What lasting impact do you think this has for kids
Alissa Kerr: I feel like those memorable school experiences, I think everybody kind of knows those things. It's kind of like magical moments that you kind of have. And I feel like for some kids, it's giving them that. Like, oh, remember when we got to fly drones in Kerr's class? That moment – like some excitement is seeing how they can do things too, and I think there's a lot of fear. Like before we do the drones, we do a unit on AI and how AI works. And so there are some fears about how AI is taking over jobs and what's going to happen. And I think when we bring in this creative component and it's something that we can tie right in. Like, you know, AI does a lot of things. It's going to take over some jobs, but AI can't come up with new ideas. AI cannot be the first costume designer for drones. It can't think of something new and if you're interested in the creative arts – we talked about what are things you could do? If that's what your thing is – like your artistic and creative and they can only list a few things. It's like, did you know there's costume designers for drones? But it's not just this. There's so many jobs surrounding these kinds of industries that if you bring skills to it, beyond just I can draw a pretty picture – I think that kind of opens kids eyes up a bit to the possibilities that are out there for them.
Renée Lucchesi: If you have seventh graders, will they get to take your class every year seven to twelve. Or do they choose their electives?
Alissa Kerr: So no, in eighth grade we've got a different set of standards. So they'll get to fly drones during seventh grade. At this point that's it. But obviously schedules and things change all the time. So that's it for right now. We'll see. And then in high school they'll take a different class with high school. They'll be coding games. And then in high school there's a set curriculum and that's optional if they want to take it. Although I do think when I'm able to bring fun things like this in a lot more say let's go ahead and take the AP class. I am a former special education teacher. So that's one thing I can offer too, like, I'll tell the special ed teachers, don't be scared of putting your kid that struggles into an AP class with me because they don't need to take the AP test. I can differentiate for anybody. Just kind of like that kid with more profound needs. He can come in and fly drones too – these experiences are open to everybody. And I think that's an important message out there. I get my classes pretty full even in high school. AP classes with kids really come in, and I feel like offering fun things like drones and getting to see the possibilities, it's helpful.
Renée Lucchesi: That's great. Thank you so much for your time.
PCS: By leveraging Iowa’s STEM Scale-Up Program, Alissa Kerr created a space where the night and day excitement for coding turns into real-world self-agency. We’re always excited to hear about the creative ways our hands-on STEM curriculum is adapted to different learning environments. To listen to more stories from real educators visit edventures.com/spotlight
