AIFS launched its first Teacher Fellowship Program this summer, and the program successfully wrapped up its last meeting in early August. Six high school teachers from across California spent their summers participating in professional development activities and designing curriculum for agriculture teachers on technological applications of drones to agriculture.

AIFS sponsored the educators’ attendance at UCANR’s Drone Camp to learn about flight skills, safety and regulation, hardware, drone data collection, and data analysis. The teachers continued their training with a three-day in-service at Woodland High School, where they dug deeper into the topics presented at Drone Camp with a particular focus on drone pedagogy and curriculum design.

In-service instructors and guest speakers included Sean Hogan (UCANR IGIS), Michael Spiess (Chico State), Brandon Stark (UC Merced), Nate Metzler (CITRIS/UC Davis), and Professor Alireza Pourreza (AIFS/UC Davis).

[caption id="attachment_10799" align="alignnone" width="300"] In-service curriculum development planning session[/caption]

Throughout July, the group held working sessions to develop modules with lesson plans, materials, and teacher resources. The final product is a curriculum resources package ready for implementation as instructional units in classrooms focused on using drone technology to solve applied problems in farming and food production. They will implement the curriculum into their classrooms this year, to road-test the modules and make them ready for a 2023 curriculum release to the public. For more information about this program, visit the Teacher Fellowship Program page.

Feedback from educators:

“It is great to get to work with a diverse group of teachers to develop a program that will impact so many students from throughout the state, and know that we will have such impact on the diverse students within California."

–David Bayne, Pioneer High School Computer Science Teacher

“Being a high school teacher in the heart of California's agriculture country, we struggled to find resources to learn about drones. This program has been everything we could have asked for and I hope our efforts produce a one-stop-shop for anyone wishing to explore drones. We have compiled and organized information from a wide variety of sources and experts, made possible through Drone Camp, curriculum development workshops, and continued collaboration. Our goal is to provide a resource to suit the needs of high school educators and students, regardless of their experience with drones. I am confident we are on track to produce just that!”

–Nick Griffith, McFarland High School Early College Agriculture Teacher

“As a high school agriculture educator, we are continuously exploring and evolving with today's technological, industry-based, and skill development needs to better serve our students, communities, and industries. This program provided opportunities for teachers/instructors to learn/develop curriculum and "hands-on" applications in a growing industry utilizing today's technology. The foundation created/established by the program will serve other schools, programs, teachers, and students in expanding student learning associated with current industry-based technology and skills.”

–Dave Gossman, Atwater High School Agriculture Teacher