Subsequent up in our “Ask Drone Lady” collection is about getting younger children — significantly younger ladies — fascinated about drones. When you have a query for Drone Lady, contact her right here.
I’m writing is due to a current put up you made in regards to the demographics of drone pilots – one thing like solely 8% are ladies. Apparently, my two ladies (7 and 9) are fascinated about studying tips on how to fly drones, and many others.
Have you learnt of any drone curricula or packages for elementary-school aged ladies to introduce them to drones, flight, and many others and get them flying with primary drones? Are there organizations on the market who you may advocate who deal with getting ladies into drones?
-Rakesh
Hey Rakesh,
Nice query! Sure, the most recent FAA information exhibits that ladies make up 7.9% of all licensed distant pilots. The weblog put up you talked about, which digs deeper into that information, lives right here.
Fortunately, it appears like your ladies are fascinated about drones and that they’ll contribute to bucking that development!
To reply your query, I’ve a number of guides that can hopefully level you in the fitting course and that include suggestions that your ladies may love:
One of the best STEM drones, lesson plans and books about drones for teenagers
First off is my information to drone-related STEM lesson plans for teenagers (and adults). Among the suggestions are geared towards older children, just like the ready-to-build Raspberry Pi drone package, however others, just like the kits from SheMaps, are excellent for grade college.
Should you’re looking for to purchase an precise drone in your children to get their fingers on, I’ve a information for that too on this breakdown of the greatest academic drones for STEM packages. Spoiler: by far one of the best academic drones for teenagers is the Tello drone a $99, kid-friendly drone that mixes DJI flight expertise and an Intel processor to create a finances digital camera drone that additionally can be utilized to show newbies the fundamentals of programming.
And at last, I urge you to take a look at these drone kids’s books, as they’re nice straightforward studying, particularly for the age group you’re asking about. One is written by the aforementioned SheMaps, whereas one other comes from Girls and Drones, the group that places in huge efforts to advertise and raise up ladies within the trade.
The way to discover native drone teams for teenagers
So far as native drone golf equipment and organizations, it will depend on your space, however one thing might exist already. Drone soccer is popping up in additional faculties, the place children learn to construct after which really fly small drones. Drone soccer is the one aggressive pupil robotics program additionally acknowledged as a global sport by FAI. Many Lady Scout troops additionally incorporate drones into their programming. In 2021, Google-sister firm Wing partnered with a Virginia Lady Scout troop to assist ship cookies through drone. Even earlier than that, different Lady Scout troops have constructed their very own cookie supply drones.
Hopefully that gives loads of choices — whereas nonetheless giving some form of course — for the place to go to get your children concerned in drones. And going again to that authentic statistic you introduced up, there may be hope. Whereas ladies drone pilots are nonetheless a small minority at simply 7.9% of general pilots, that quantity has elevated each single yr for the reason that information has been tracked. In 2016, simply 3.9% of all drone pilots had been ladies. Since 2016, the variety of feminine drone pilots has elevated by 30x, far greater than the general 15x price of improve for the broader drone trade.
