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Week 4: Eyes in the Sky — Drone Engineering Careers

4th Six Weeks | STEM / Engineering Cluster | 5 class periods (50 min each)

Lesson Objective

Students explore the H&L Engineering cluster (Ch 8) including the Drone (Unmanned Vehicle) Engineer pathway, complete the H&L "Protecting Wildlife" robot blueprint activity, investigate emerging UAS occupations across 5 industries, learn FAA Part 107 certification basics, and operate classroom drones through a navigation challenge that mirrors real inspection missions.

Demonstration of Learning

"I can describe at least three emerging drone careers, complete the H&L Protecting Wildlife robot blueprint, explain the FAA Part 107 certification process, and demonstrate basic drone navigation while connecting the experience to UAS engineering careers."

TEKS Alignment

  • d(1)(D): Research and evaluate emerging occupations related to career interest areas.
  • d(2)(A): Research and describe applicable academic, technical, certification, and training requirements.
  • d(5)(B): Classify occupations as high-skill, high-wage, and high-demand.

Materials Needed

  • Chromebooks with internet access (1 per student)
  • Hats & Ladders student accounts + H&L Workbook (Ch 8: Engineering, pp. 121-135, "Protecting Wildlife", "Mission to Mars", "Infrastructure Imagination")

  • Classroom drones (1 per team of 3-4 students. DJI Tello Education or equivalent mini-drones)

  • Printed Robot Blueprint sheet (Protecting Wildlife template)

  • Printed UAS Industry Research Template (1 per student)
  • Printed Drone Safety Briefing handout
  • Printed Drone Navigation Course score sheet
  • Cones / chairs / tape targets for navigation course setup
  • FAA Drone Zone: faa.gov/uas
  • BLS, Mechanical Engineers: bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/mechanical-engineers.htm
  • DJI Education resources: dji.com/education
  • Projector for safety briefing and FAA Part 107 overview

Career Connection

Drones (UAS, Unmanned Aerial Systems) are transforming nearly every industry. Agriculture uses drones for crop monitoring and targeted spraying. Construction uses them for site surveys and progress documentation. Real estate uses aerial cinematography. Emergency services use them for search and rescue. Filmmaking uses them for shots that used to require helicopters. Delivery companies are testing autonomous package drones. Each of these applications requires UAS pilots, drone engineers, drone data analysts, and drone fleet managers, careers that barely existed 10 years ago. Irving High's Drone Engineering pathway leads to FAA Part 107 certification, the federal license required to fly drones commercially. This pathway also directly connects to the TSA Drone Challenge that many IISD VILS students already compete in.

What is Happening at Irving ISD? Aviation Maintenance and Drone Engineering at Irving High School (School of Aviation Sciences). Connected pathways: Sustainable Engineering at Nimitz High School and Robotic Manufacturing at Singley Academy (School of Innovative Technology).

Vocabulary

  • UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems): The complete drone system, aircraft + controller + software + communication link.
  • FAA Part 107: The federal certification required to operate drones commercially. Covers airspace, weather, regulations, emergency procedures.
  • Geofencing: Software that creates virtual no-fly zones around airports, government buildings, and restricted areas.
  • Payload: Equipment carried by a drone beyond what is needed for flight, cameras, sensors, packages, sprayers.
  • Emerging Occupation: A career that is new or rapidly growing because of technological change. Drone careers are the textbook example.
  • High-Skill / High-Wage / High-Demand: TEA's classification framework for careers that pay well, require training, and have many openings (per d(5)(B)).

Bridge to Theory (Hats & Ladders)

H&L Chapter 8: Engineering (pp. 121-135) is the source for this week. The chapter lists six engineering pathways:

  1. Engineering Foundations
  2. Geospatial Engineering and Land Surveying
  3. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
  4. Drone (Unmanned Vehicle) Engineer: the direct match for this week
  5. Electrical Engineering
  6. Civil Engineering

Three named workbook activities anchor this week:

  • "Protecting Wildlife" (Ch 8, pp. 121-122): Career Climb. Students play a Robotics Engineer designing a small lightweight robot that flies into dense forests to track jaguars, parrots, or tree-dwelling monkeys. Used Day 1 as the bridge to drones.
  • "Mission to Mars" (Ch 8, pp. 126-128): Career Climb. Students play an aerospace engineer at NASA designing a new Mars Rover that handles rocky terrain, dust storms, and -225°F temperatures. Used Day 4 as an extension activity for fast finishers.
  • "Infrastructure Imagination" (Ch 8, pp. 130-135): Career Lab. Students play a civil engineer for the city of Los Lomas tackling traffic congestion and flooding. Used as a Wk2 5SW reference (already covered in 5SW); referenced here for cross-cluster awareness.

IISD Instructional Strategies

  • Jigsaw: Day 2 assigns each team a different drone industry (agriculture, construction, film, delivery, emergency services). Teams research independently, then teach the rest of the class on Day 5.
  • Modeling: Day 3 teacher demonstrates basic drone takeoff, hover, and landing on the projector before students touch a controller.
  • Active Monitoring: During flight days (3-4), teacher circulates with safety checklist tracking pilot rotation, altitude limits, and connection-to-career statements.
  • Structured Pairs: Each team has a pilot, a spotter, a logger, and a coach role, rotated every 5 minutes.

Week at a Glance

Day Focus Key Activities Deliverable
1 H&L Engineering Cluster + Protecting Wildlife H&L Ch 8 cluster tour + "Protecting Wildlife" robot blueprint Completed wildlife tracker robot blueprint
2 UAS Industry Jigsaw Research Each team researches 1 of 5 drone industries UAS Industry Research Template completed for assigned industry
3 FAA Part 107 + Drone Flight Basics Safety briefing + first hands-on flight Safety quiz + first hover/landing achievement
4 Drone Navigation Challenge Indoor obstacle course flights with scoring Navigation course score sheet (3 runs per pilot)
5 Jigsaw Presentations + Career Classification Industry presentations + high-skill/wage/demand classification Team presentation + individual career classification

Formative Assessment

  • "Protecting Wildlife" robot blueprint quality (Day 1): d(1)(D)
  • UAS Industry Research Template completion (Day 2): d(2)(A), d(5)(B)
  • Drone safety briefing knowledge check (Day 3): d(2)(A)
  • Active monitoring checklist during flights (Days 3-4): d(1)(D)

Summative Assessment

UAS Jigsaw Presentation + Career Classification (Day 5): Each team presents their assigned drone industry research (4 minutes per team). Each individual student submits a written classification of one drone career as high-skill, high-wage, and/or high-demand, with supporting evidence from BLS, FAA, and DJI sources. Scored on emerging occupation research quality (d(1)(D)), certification knowledge (d(2)(A)), and accurate classification with evidence (d(5)(B)).

Differentiation

Scaffolded Learning

  • Pre-selected research sources for each industry so students don't get lost in web searches
  • Drone controller reference card with visual diagrams
  • Allow teams to use a flight simulator app for Day 3 if they are not yet ready for live flight
  • Pair pilot + spotter so students who are anxious about flying can spot first

Extensions

  • Research a drone career that does not yet exist but will in 5 years (drone traffic controller, autonomous UAS fleet manager, drone forensics analyst)
  • Advanced pilots attempt the Day 4 navigation course with added complexity (time pressure, additional checkpoints, blindfolded coach calling moves)
  • Build a business plan for a drone services company including startup costs and projected revenue

ELL Language Support

  • Pre-teach: Drone = Dron, Pilot = Piloto, Certification = Certificación, Emerging = Emergente, Payload = Carga útil
  • Visual safety briefing handout with diagrams and bilingual labels
  • Hands-on drone flying transcends language, let ESL students fly first and explain what they learned in the language they are comfortable with
  • Pair ESL students with bilingual peers during the Jigsaw research and presentation prep