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Quadratic Equations are one of the more abstract mathematical concepts for high school students. Even if you can remember and solve the formulas, it’s hard for teens to think about how quadratic equations could ever help them in their future job, or even how they could save a life. It is the main goal of the RobotsLAB BOX to help bridge the gap between concepts and what they truly mean in a world that doesn’t revolve around white boards and exams.


See the full lesson here.

 In the lesson “Search and Rescue” the AR.Drone or quadcopter (like a helicopter, but with 4 blades for more stability) demonstrates the relationship between height and area and how this is actually a quadratic relationship, just like kids are asked to solve in a classroom. You only have to use a little bit of imagination to see how this abstract concept becomes real-world relevant.

Imagine you are a member of a search and rescue team and it is your job to look out of the helicopter and alert the pilot when something unusual has been spotted. You got it? Good (keep that in mind for later).

Alright, back to reality; controlled on the smart tablet, and displayed on the screen below, we begin by animating the flight of the AR. Drone.

The data can also be displayed on the graph


Then with a touch of your finger you can change the onscreen animated height of the quad copter’s flight.  As the quad copter rises the animation also reflects the area growing on the ground


The image above is a .gif animation to demonstrate the A.R Drone in flight.

This is a Quadratic Relationship, and you can see it on the graph as well


Once the relationship has been fully explained and the students seem comfortable with the concept, get ready for a real flight right in the classroom! Press the play button to begin the real-world demonstration.

Once the drone takes flight, you can make it fly by moving your finger up on the height bar to the left of the app. The drone will send back data of how high it is off the ground and will continue to hover until you tell it to do something a description of it hovering and giving real in-flight data back to the tablet… that would work too

Now let’s go back to you being part of a search and rescue team—let’s say that there is a group of lost hikers somewhere in the forest. Unfortunately, no one can find them so they are sending in your team to try and spot them from the air.

Using what you just learned through the animated and real world demonstration, how low can you fly while still being able to cover the whole forest spanning 10m^2?  

For this problem students will use the same equation: Y=4x^2+.08X+.04 where X is the Height and Y is the Area. (displayed on the tablet)

Or, you can ask the question in a different way like this:                                                           

Your search and rescue team can only fly at a height of 1.0 meter, how much of the forest can they see from this height?

Solve on paper, then type your solution into the tablet to see the quad copter demonstrate your answers.

Learning with flying robots and real world scenarios allows children to grasp the concepts beyond just the shapes they see on a graph and the weird symbols on a whiteboard. It effortlessly engages all students and introduces them to the concept that math really is all around you and can make you a smarter, more efficient human being just by understanding basic principles. To see other lessons, learn about the other robots in the BOX, and get a price quote for your school fill out the form below or visit us at


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  • Aug 9, 2013 2:30:00 PM
Quadratic equations lesson plan