Nice ideas.
But a bit wide spread, aren't they ?
You told about some 15 lessons, which isn't a lot.
Are these lessons of an hour or what ?
How many students will be participating, and will they all work on their own, in groups or as one large group (or any kind of mix) ?
Not to dismiss, what kind of budget would be available.
Ofcourse 15 lessons to build and (really) understand a phone/tablet controllable multicopter will be cool / impressive, not just to those highschool students.
But without some extra information, it'll be difficult to give you an answer you can use, i think.