Abstract: This activity will introduce students to the technology of Satellite Triangulation used in the Global Positioning System. Students will first study the history of satellite technology, and how it has gradually changed from military use to the private sector. Students will then engage in GEOCACHING, a scavenger hunt type adventure outdoors that will illustrate how the Global Positioning System works.
Learning Targets: Students will learn what an artificial satellite is, and how they are used.
Students will learn the meaning of latitude and longitude, and how they determine location on the surface of the Earth.
Students will learn about many uses of a Global Positioning Device.
Grade Level: Third grade
Length of Time: Students will alternately spend one week researching satellites and the military use of early GPS units, and spend one week on a geocaching project.
Execution: In cooperation with another class, I will have placed a string of geocaches in a series of hiding places on the grounds around the school, and in predetermined safe locations within a five-mile radius of the school, accompanied by parent volunteer or teacher. The original coordinates will be given to the students in class, but each subsequent coordinate must be discovered in each subsequent cache. Clues to what will be found in the caches, identifying landmarks, terrain, etc. will be available on the class website.
Learning episodes: 1. Using personal or school-supplied GPS units, students in groups of three will head out outside and go from cache to cache while deciphering the information found in each hidden box.After finding a cache, students must replace the box in its original hiding place in consideration of the group to follow. (Students not in the field will be working on the satellite research project)
2. At the conclusion of the geocaching scavenger hunt, students will compile notes taken while in the field and complete a journal detailing what was found, how the team worked together, and how they might use GPS in the future.
Abstract: This activity will introduce students to the technology of Satellite Triangulation used in the Global Positioning System. Students will first study the history of satellite technology, and how it has gradually changed from military use to the private sector. Students will then engage in GEOCACHING, a scavenger hunt type adventure outdoors that will illustrate how the Global Positioning System works.
Learning Targets: Students will learn what an artificial satellite is, and how they are used.
Students will learn the meaning of latitude and longitude, and how they determine location on the surface of the Earth.
Students will learn about many uses of a Global Positioning Device.
Grade Level: Third grade
Length of Time: Students will alternately spend one week researching satellites and the military use of early GPS units, and spend one week on a geocaching project.
Execution: In cooperation with another class, I will have placed a string of geocaches in a series of hiding places on the grounds around the school, and in predetermined safe locations within a five-mile radius of the school, accompanied by parent volunteer or teacher. The original coordinates will be given to the students in class, but each subsequent coordinate must be discovered in each subsequent cache. Clues to what will be found in the caches, identifying landmarks, terrain, etc. will be available on the class website.
Learning episodes: 1. Using personal or school-supplied GPS units, students in groups of three will head out outside and go from cache to cache while deciphering the information found in each hidden box. After finding a cache, students must replace the box in its original hiding place in consideration of the group to follow. (Students not in the field will be working on the satellite research project)
2. At the conclusion of the geocaching scavenger hunt, students will compile notes taken while in the field and complete a journal detailing what was found, how the team worked together, and how they might use GPS in the future.
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