Learning with drones at Chester County high school

KENNET SQUARE, Pa. (WPVI) -- A high-tech tool is taking the educational experience to new heights for a group of students at a high school in Chester County.

It comes in a backpack. 2.8 pounds of circuits, rotors, and batteries. A drone.

Unionville High School students and teachers launched their newest acquisition from the 50-yard line into the gray overcast Wednesday.

Its onboard camera recorded it all.

Junior Alex Castina was piloting.

"It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it. It's like riding a bike," Castina said.

Right now drones or unmanned aerial systems as they are sometimes called are still pretty much a curiosity, but it's expected that will change and change quickly.

Commercial drone operations are poised to become a multibillion dollar business by next decade, used not just in video production, but for inspections of buildings from above and in Amazon's world - flying delivery trucks.

They are predictions not lost on these kids.

"I do think they are going to be used more for surveillance, used for Amazon shipment of things. I think they are going to be able to incorporate certain construction tasks," student Gavin Brezki siad.

"I think they are going to work on making them larger in size so they'll be able to carry more objects and things," student Brigid Reilly said.

The goal at Unionville is to incorporate this evolving technology into existing curriculum.

"It's new, it's popular, it's what they are going to see in their lifetime and give them a best opportunity to have a leg up on everybody," Stephen Ortega of Unionville High School said.

"Inside of a drone you have materials, engineering, electrical, mechanical, a lot of different engineering disciplines are represented that our students can learn and understand," Mike Berkeihiser of Unionville High School said.

The price tag of the little consumer drone that at times sounds like a box of angry bees is $1,000. But teachers at Unionville are certain it's educational value is worth many times that figure.