UW

The addition of a new drone will enhance the educational experiences of students at the University of Wyoming at Casper.

Controlled by a tablet, the DJI Phantom 3 Quadcopter can maneuver through obstacles and to distances more than a mile away. UW-Casper’s technical education and secondary science education-biology students were the first to use the new technology when they took the drone to the Braille Trail on Casper Mountain to photograph pine cones at the tops of pine trees.

“The drone assists us in data collection and observation of difficult-to-reach, if not totally inaccessible, subjects,” says Jason Katzmann, assistant professor of secondary education at UW-Casper. “There also is huge potential when using drones to discover math and science concepts by creating, making, building, flying and landing the drones. Students need to acquire drone-operating skills, as the number of drone-related jobs is projected to be on the increase in the next three years.”