Technology In The Classroom : weblog

Friday Oct 20, 2006

GPS Technology--Classroom Intergration

GPS Technology: Classroom Applications

Class Article:

I enjoyed the article, "Hide and Seek." The article presented interesting classroom applications for integrating handheld GPS technology. The articled defined the concept of geocaching, which is new to me, as a high-tech, worldwide treasure hunt where a person hides a cache for others to find.

The author of the article, "Hide and Seek," is very aware of her teacher audience. She foresees teachers having questions regarding the GPS navigation tools themselves as well as the need for ideas on how to implement the knowledge, skills and abilities used in GPS navigation into the classroom. Therefore, she recommends a variety of applications to use in the classroom, as well as, demonstrating how teachers can implement the activities to address a variety of curriculum objectives.

For example, one foreseeable question addressed in the reading, :How do I know where to look for a cache?"

The author explains, a teacher can visit a geocaching site with a database, search the database for a cache of interest and then navigate to the cache by entering longitude and latitude coordinates.

The author recommends several classroom applications for GPS technology: One lesson described involved three different teaching activities and the use of a GPS Unit.

1) First students can integrate GPS technology by examining the mathematical concepts used by GPS Units. Student will create a point of reference, mathematical,, by creating a mathematical link between, what is a degree and how does that relate to my location in relationship to miles.

2) Then students can use GPS units to navigate to physical locations using inputted latitude and longitude points.

3) To conclude the lesson, the author recommended an activity in which students? search for assigned caches located throughout the campus.

Another classroom application that can be used in conjunction with a GPS unit is a concept known as multi-site caching. The author explains the concept of a multi-site cache as an application requiring students to embark on a real life scavenger hunt using a GPS unit, knowledge of latitude and longitude as well as their understanding of how their location is reflected through the latitude and longitude degrees. The process will encompass the cacher to locate the first set or coordinates, do a calculation to determine the next set of coordinates and navigate to the next location. The author recommended using this activity to lead students on a campus based adventure or a historical adventure of their hometown. Teachers have two options in the implementation of this activity, the author explains, the learners can complete a cache created by a teacher or another student, or the learner can create a cache for others.

However, not all classroom teachers have access to handheld GPS units. Therefore the author presented two additional approaches for integrating the use of GPS navigation: Travel Bugs and location-less caching.

1) Locationless Caches is another application presented in the article. In a locationless cache no GPS Handheld Unit is needed. The creator simply describes an object they are in search of and the cachers navigate the globe searching for the cache. The cachers report their finding back to the creator by taking pictures or sending longitude and latitude coordinates.

2) The author also presented the idea of using Travel Bugs. "Travel bugs are an element of geocaching that maybe of particular interest to elementary teachers." Although I am not an elementary teacher, I found this recommendation the most applicable to my classroom. Therefore, based on the information presented in the article, as well as a little addition research, I created a classroom application that I will like to implement.

The Tool: Travel Bugs Can Impact Learning

In public education the sky is not the limit, instead the budget is the limit. Therefore, in today's classrooms, teachers must be creative, thrifty and open to new ideas. When thinking about a GPS Unit and the price tag attached to that device a 1:1 student to GPS unit ratio is not realistic and neither is a 30:1 student to GPS unit ratio, in most schools.

Therefore, my tool of interest and the tool I can afford personally to purchase are "Travel Bugs. "

After reading the article and reflecting on the ideas presented by the author, I did a little research on "Travel Bugs." Below are my findings, the information presented is copied and pasted from: http://www.geocaching.com/track/faq.aspx

What is a Travel Bug? A Groundspeak Travel Bug is a trackable tag that you attach to an item. This allows you to track your item on Geocaching.com. The item becomes a hitchhiker that is carried from cache to cache (or person to person) in the real world and you can follow its progress online.

What does a Travel Bug do? It's really up to the owner of the bug to give it whatever task they desire. Or no task at all. The fun of a travel bug is inventing new goals for the Travel Bug to achieve. One Bug's goal may be to reach a specific country, or travel to 10 countries.

How do Travel Bugs work? Each Travel Bug has its own unique tracking number stamped on it. This tracking number is used as proof by the user that they found the item. It also doubles as a way for the user to locate the personal web page for the travel bug.

Travel Bugs are tracked with the help of users who go online and "grab" them from caches, or receive them from users. The idea is by picking up and dropping off Travel Bugs on the web site you are mirroring the Bug's real world adventures. Each Travel Bug has its own "diary" that follows its movements.

How to get a Travel Bug? Travel Bugs can be found at http://www.geocaching.com/track/order.aspx

Must create an account. In order to get more details I created an account. The process was easy. I also had to provide my home coordinates. I found a great website to use: http://world.maporama.com/idl/maporama/

Once you have an account and you purchase a travel bug, the students can track the travel bug. When a travel bug is found/received, the tag has instructions on how to log the location of the travel bug. The results are present in a log that states location details.

?How Would This Platform Increase Student Learning??

The fundamental skills needed to use GPS Technology can be developed and practiced by exposing students to the ideas and concepts used in the "Travel Bug" project. And, by building the skills the students will understand the advantages of using GPS technology.

The implementation of, ?Travel Bugs? into classroom instructional activities will offer students the opportunity to use their knowledge, skills and abilities when performing calculations using longitude and latitude skills. The overall project offers numerous of opportunities to allow students to use the skills needed to use a handheld GPS, as well as, the skills needed to research a variety of regions in the US.

The positive attributes of, Travel Bugs, for teaching GPS Navigation:

1. Easy to set up and implement into previously created instructional activities; complements our groups selected training model, Bloom?s Taxonomy Tie-In Model.

2. Cheap, no unrealistic expenses! No hardware needed.

3. Students develop and practice the navigation skills needed to use a GPS.

4. Students will have the opportunity to experience how GPS technology works and the benefits of having GPS technology.

5. Students will have the opportunity to use higher level thinking skills to plot movement and calculate travel distances.

6. Students will have a virtual field trip when exploring the locations of the ?Travel Bug.?

7. Students will have exposure to the sport of geocaching.

The negative attributes of, Travel Bugs, for teaching GPS Navigation:

1. Students do not have the opportunity to use a handheld GPS.

2. Computer simulations are not a substitute for ?Real Life? experience.

How I plan to implement Travel Bugs and GPS Technology in the Classroom

I have briefly described how our, 7^th grade, team will integrate Travel Bugs into classroom activities to promote HOTS.

Science: The students will learn basic Latitude and Longitude knowledge and skills. The teacher will present the travel bug to the class and explain the mission, as well as, how the travel bug will be tracked using latitude and longitude coordinates. The teacher will assist students in locating the coordinates for the 10 locations.

Math: Students will use (Latitude and Longitude Coordinates), including the 10 for our travel bug?s mission, to calculate the distance between the different coordinates. For the formulas to calculate distance, see the following website www.meridianworlddata.com

Technology: Students will create a spreadsheet to represent the distance from a variety of Latitude and Longitude Coordinates. From the data collect, the class must determine the shortest path for the travel bug. Students will use spreadsheets to predict, test and evaluate a variety of travel routes. Students will, evaluate, analysis and interrupt, the relationship between the different locations and the distance of the trip.

Social Studies: Students will use the Internet to research the 10 locations selected for the mission. For example, if the mission is to map the adventures of "Lewis & Clark," students will research the importance of each location selected for the travel bugs adventure and create a relationship between the location and the adventure as a whole. Students will create a Thinking Map to demonstrate their understanding of the Adventure.

Using this activity as a multi-site cache can also be fun and educational!

"Adventure Mapping" applies the concept of multi-site caching to a variety of classroom applications. The activity can be applied to any content area. Students create their own adventures by creating a travel plan based on the content area being studied, for example, The Adventures of Christopher Columbus, The Migration to the West for Gold or the Life of Martin Luther King. For each adventure, the student will research and determine the 10 most important/influential milestones of the person, place or event. Students will determine the coordinates of each location, and will map the adventure using their understand of distance and spreadsheets. Students will create a concept map to demonstrate the relationship between the selected locations and the selected topic.

Another classroom application is similar to the concept of mystery or puzzle caches. This form of cache can involve complicated puzzles/problems students will solve to determine the next step in their hunt. This can be applied to a variety of content areas. The teacher can create open-ended questions, problem-solving questions or evaluation questions. I recommend the use of the Internet to represent the hunting grounds. I also recommend the incorporation of spreadsheets and databases. The students are not the creators of the adventure, the students are engaging in the adventure as they discover and solve clues.

I found a great activity online that uses GPS technology and promotes HOTS. http://www.chicos.caltech.edu/classroom/#gps_catch

I also found the website created by National Geographic useful. It integrates Computer Science with a variety of subject areas and provides teacher friendly, ready to use lesson plans.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions/lessons/g68.html

Posted at 12:42PM Oct 20, 2006 by SIMMONS, AMBER in Hardware | Comments[0]