A vertiport is a new type of facility for vertical takeoff and landing of various Advanced Air Mobility vehicles, such as drones and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. You could informally call these “drone airports”. Vertiports will be used for medium and short distance services, including healthcare supply delivery.

Through this hands-on curriculum, students will learn about vertiports, drones, and “advanced air mobility”; brainstorm ideas on how to design a vertiport; identify ways to make a functional, sustainable, and safe design; and build a model of a vertiport from cardboard and loose parts.

The Engineering Design Process has been such a crucial part of STEM education for the past few years. With schools pushing to become more engaged and involved with problem based learning, the design process is seen as a great starting point. In this content package for upper elementary grades, educators will find lesson plans and ideas on how to teach the design process, eBooks and digital texts with some studies on how to implement design thinking, ready-to-use activities and interactives to encourage real-world learning for students, and videos and multimedia to help students visualize different applications of the Engineering Design Process.