GPS & Geocaching in Education

Link: http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=23849

Here is a GPS/GIS related lesson plan created by Jamie Bennion from Washington County School District. He was a participant in a 2-day class on Location Based Learning & Analysis with GPS class that I taught for the district.

His lesson plan is very in depth and cross-discipline in nature. With the GPS and simulated biotic and abiotic factors to consider, students can analyze the collected data and draw conclusions about animal habitat. The lesson and the included example Google Earth file is very well done, with a mixture of not only GPS points, but different polygons drawn to indicate different elevations, vegetation and geology that influence the occurance of different animal species represented by stuffed animals that the students find and mark the location of.

An excellent example of integrating this tool for some real project based work and analysis. Amazing work, Jamie!

Link: http://coord.info/GC1C6RQ

This cache uses a very common tool in Science - The Periodic Table of Elements - as a puzzle to find the coordinates to the cache location. Another fun way to hook kids into learning with caching!

Global Positioning System Receivers (GPSr’s) can be an effective and engaging technology tool to help your students FINALLY understand some concepts in Math that may have escaped them, such as understanding and calculating area & volume, and even solving 1-factor equations. Using a GPS unit will allow your students to experience math in a whole new way. We will cover how to use a GPSr to find the area and perimeter of a location, calculate the slope of a hill (& the distance up that hill!), and even how to figure out the volume of water fall on your school campus during a rainstorm! Not a math teacher, that’s OK! I will also provide over 50 ideas to integrate GPS into your instruction across all curricular areas.

Session handout in PDF form

Here's the direct link to the video on TeacherTube.
Copy of GPS & Geocaching Presentation in .mov format (right click to download)

Link: http://www.touchtip.com/iphone-and-ipod-touch/play-a-global-treasure-hunt-with-geocaching-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/

Play a global treasure hunt with Geocaching for iPhone and iPod touch

This article about the iPod Touch and iPhone software from Geocaching.com gives the best explanation of exactly what geocaching is. Enjoy.

Link: http://www.isat.jmu.edu/stem/curriculum.html

"We're happy to announce the publication of the Rural STEM GIS activity collection for AEJEE and ArcGIS. This collection of 12 activities (authored by Barbaree Ash Duke, edited by me and classroom tested by teachers around the country) focuses on middle school science and social studies. Each activity comes with student instructions and worksheet, teacher notes, an answer key and all relevant data. The activities are referenced to relevant national standards. Each activity can also be easily modified for younger or older students. Each activity can be used by itself or in conjunction with one or more of the other activities. We hope teachers in a variety of settings will find these activities of use.

All the activities can be accessed here.

We've categorized the activities into three groups by GIS experience:

Level 1 - suitable as a first-time GIS experience

• Bats in the Neighborhood: Friend or Foe?
• Hunting for the Best Cabela's Location
• Invasive Species: Attack of the Animals
• Invasive Species: Attack of the Plants

Level 2 - best after a prior introduction to GIS

• We are the World: A Look at Demographics
• Production and Consumption: The Give and Take of Energy
• Disaster Strikes
• Should You Drink the Water?
• Watersheds: Why bother?

Level 3 - best after more than one experience with GIS

• What's Your Carbon Footprint?
• Can You Grow Money?
• Survivor: The Agricultural Challenge

This work is supported the Center for Rural STEM Education at James Madison University and funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Please feel free to contact us with comments and questions."

Bob Kolvoord