Structured Teaching Using Drone Simulators for Students' Confidence in Real Flight

A structured learning approach through the constructivism approach is a method that helps students build understanding in phases, from easy to difficult. The use of drone simulators in the subject of drone handling is a practical way to build understanding for students in phases. Good student understanding gives them the confidence to operate drones from virtual simulators to real through real drone operators. The study wants to see the relationship between the use of drone simulators and students’ confidence in operating real drones. A questionnaire served as the main research instrument. 35 students participated as purposive samples. This investigation can be divided into three sections; initial knowledge data before entering class, drone simulator data as simulator data, and real flight data collected afterward as final data - using both descriptive analyses such as mean, frequency analysis as well as inferential paired-sample T-Test to find relationships among them all. The findings of the study show that there is a significant difference between the students’ confidence before and after participating in the class on the actual handling of drones. This shows that the handling of dangerous drones in terms of safety needs to start with structured drone simulators to ensure that students can master the knowledge, technical and practical aspects of drones. It is hoped that this structured and phased teaching and management process can be done and developed for other courses as well. The findings of the study indicate that using structured drone simulators positively impacts students’ confidence in operating real drones. The results highlight the importance of starting with simulators to ensure that students can master the necessary knowledge, technical skills, and practical aspects of drone handling. This approach is seen as a safer way to introduce students to handling potentially dangerous drones while building their competence and self-assurance.