A systematic review of UAV applications to education

This study was to review empirical studies on UAV usage in education. 43 papers were selected and reviewed with respect to the following dimensions: (1) publication time and source, (2) methodology in reviewed studies, and (3) main findings reported by researchers. The results showed that the highest number of published articles was between 2018 and 2020, and that most studies were published in journals and conference proceedings. Most participants were undergraduate students from Asia. Most studies were conducted for five days or less and the most frequent domain to which UAV was applied was STEM. Scholars often used questionnaires and tests as measurement instruments. We found that the most frequent learning activities were collecting data with UAV, learning how to fly UAV, introducing UAV, working in the field with UAV, and programming UAV. Research variables that scholars explored in reviewed studies often were learning performance, attitude and motivation. The main findings concerned skills, knowledge, motivation and responsibility. The advantages of UAV in education were accessing data from inaccessible or dangerous locations, collecting and delivering temporal and spatial resolution information quickly etc., disadvantages were availability issues, legal issues, logistical issues, and privacy and ethics issues.