Technology in the Classroom: Geocaching
November 13, 2011 by RWW
One activity that involves the use of GPS technology that I am very excited about is geocaching. I have not participated in this activity yet, but I am really excited to start integrating these types of activities into family vacations or on road trips where my family and I are traveling to get to our vacation destination. More importantly, I cannot wait to develop cool lesson plans that would allow me to utilize this technology with my students. This would obviously be a great activity to use if I were teaching Geography, but there are so many other classes in which this technology could be incorporated. It would be a great way to get students to explore local historical sights. AND, the coolest thing would be to have my students develop their own hunts in small groups to share with the class, the school, and the community. Seriously, who doesn’t like a “treasure hunt”? And if your students have smart phones this does not have to be a huge expense to the school budget either. It could also be a great and easy way to partner with a community retailer to upgrade your classroom.
Here are some links to articles that you might find interesting:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6463503.html
http://blog.geocaching.com/2011/08/geocaching-finds-its-way-to-the-classroom/
Very cool. I absolutely love it. I have done it w/my kids. I am not sure how you would do it in class, but I have known teachers that use cellphones and do scavenger hunts. There are also several “Carmen SanDiego” style games on the web for different ages that are great.
Great idea, you could give out grid coordinates for a specific location and have the students try to locate.
Love the Billie Holiday also, one of the wife’s favorite!