Community of Practise (COP) for Flight & Aerospace @ Compassvale Secondary School

On the 3rd of October 2018, a group of teachers from the Flight and Aerospace (F&A) ALP schools gathered to exchange ideas and shared some of the unique school programmes that they have conducted in their respective schools. They were accompanied by officers from the Curriculum Planning and Development Division (CPDD), MOE, as well as educators from STEM Inc, Science Centre Singapore. The event also saw 65 Drones, a local start-up in drone technology, exhibiting and showcasing their drone’s capabilities in support of applied learning education.

Upon arrival of the invited participants, the curriculum specialist from STEM Inc, Mr Tan Yew Hock, gave a brief introduction on the outline of the Community of Practise (COP) and highlighted some of the compliance matters with regard to flying of drones within Singapore in accordance to CASS guidelines.

Subsequently, 65 Drones demonstrated the use of drones (using DJI Tello) to do Drone Swarming where the drones were programmed to fly in sequence and synchronise with one another such that they created unique flying patterns. 65 Drones went on to share how drones can be utilised for educational purposes.

Teachers from ChangKat Changi Secondary and St Gabriel Secondary continued to share their overseas exchange programme on a trip to France, Toulouse where their students get to tour around the Airbus final assembly line for planes and also get to enjoy a home-stay experience.

A secondary one student from Compassvale Secondary showcased his in-depth knowledge about gliders by explaining in details how he shaped and crafted his glider that resulted in him winning competitions. His enthusiasm and passion in Flight and Aerospace (F&A) was evident throughout the sharing session given that he knew very well about the F&A theories and the confidence that was displayed.

The sharing by Ping Yi Secondary was equally exciting as the teacher demonstrated a virtual platform where a glider plane can be controlled virtually in the computer via a wireless RC controller. This platform allows students to fly their glider without the fear of crashing the glider if it were to be done in a physical environment. The cost of setup is also significantly lower compared to buying the physical glider with controller. Ping Yi ended their sharing by seeking collaboration opportunity in starting up a drone league (First Person View, FPV Drone Racing) where schools in F&A domain can compete among themselves.

The COP concluded with schools providing a survey on what they have garnered from the COP session and what they hope to see in future COP session.

Written by: Vincent Ng Choon Hui (Education Officer)