The program was modeled on part of the Malawi class co-founded by Kochersberger,
Aerospace engineering major Garrett Asper has made trips to the Dominican Republic with his church since 2014. These mission trips have also included educational elements, giving Asper the opportunity to lead STEM classes for the villages he’s visited.
“In 2019, I did a STEM program with a school that we work with,” Asper said. “This school is very rural. They bus in students from 20 different villages within a 20-mile radius to give them education. We brought them a STEM program to do some activities that were hands-on, like mini model bridges testing their strength and building bottle rockets.”
With that foundation in teaching, Asper wanted to offer a new opportunity for the 2020 trip. His plan, before being canceled with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, would have covered circuits and renewable energy. Unable to make the trip, Asper used the time to plan what he might want to offer if a trip was possible in 2021.
Asper had spent time during his freshman year working in the Unmanned Systems Laboratory under the direction of associate professor Kevin Kochersberger. He was familiar with the lab’s involvement in bringing drone education to Malawi.
“This year I wanted to do a similar program, so I talked to Dr. Kochersberger about my history in the Dominican Republic and what I wanted to do,” said Asper. “He was like, all right, let's do it. I'll fund the materials.”
The program was modeled on part of the Malawi class co-founded by Kochersberger, putting materials in the hands of students to build motorized foam gliders to test the laws of aerodynamics, electricity, and surfaces. This included integration with electricity and circuits, something Asper had already planned to teach. Adding Kochersberger’s ready-made curriculum and materials made expanding the program much easier.
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