Lesson 2: Yaw Rotations

Use this article to help students use the VEX AIR Flight Simulator to complete the mission.

This mission is likely going to take students more time for each attempt, as it is the first to combine two different joystick movements. It will take time and practice to be able to fly through both rings successfully. Ensure that all students are engaged, even when they are not the ones actively flying. Students can watch as others are flying, and discuss or document answers to the Partner Prompts with other students or with you. Other tips for facilitating this mission include: 

• Encourage students to narrate their actions as they fly, to help them connect the joystick controls to the drone's movement. 
• Have students debrief with each other to share something they learned through practice that helped them be successful.
• Remind students to document which joystick controls they are using in their Mission Logs. 

Be sure students are logging every attempt at completing the mission. They should be noting the number of collisions as well as notes about why an attempt was or was not successful in the reflection section. Encourage them to be specific in their reflections, so they can use their notes to help them in future missions.

As students are learning to fly the drone in the simulator, connecting the concepts they are practicing in the virtual environment to the real world will help them when it comes time to fly in the air. Understanding how different controls connect to the x, y, and z-axes will help them develop their understanding of how the drone moves in space, preparing them for flying the real drone with greater skill and confidence.

Answers to the Check Your Understanding questions can be found here. (Google doc / .docx / .pdf)

Check Your Understanding questions are a useful formative assessment tool to supplement what students are doing and learning through their practice missions. Consider how you will use the results of the questions to support your teaching. If many students got the same question wrong, allow extra time to revisit that concept through discussions and/or by offering extra practice missions for hands-on learning.