Barbie's Weblog

Using GPS Units in the French Classroom

            Geocaching is a type of treasure hunt for a cache that can be found in one of more than 180 countries.  To successfully complete their mission, students must locate a cache, which is a container filled with an assortment of small items or trinkets using a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit.  Students must enter the longitude and latitude coordinates of the cache that they want to find into their GPS unit and with the aid of a series of clues requiring problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills determine the cache?s location or the next set of coordinates depending on the type of cache being located.  With geocaching, there are several different types of classroom applications including multi-site caches, which include a series of clues or problems that lead students through a series of coordinates, interdisciplinary caches, locationless caching, which does not require a GPS and the use of Travel Bugs.

            Teachers in the Lary article mentioned that they used several initial lessons that incorporated higher-order thinking skills and provided students with training on how to use the GPS before the students actually worked on their first geocaching activity.  As a result, the entire series of lessons seemed to run very smoothly and students were very successful and excited about the entire unit in the end.  Therefore, with my own students I want to make sure to provide them with the appropriate training so they will understand how to use the equipment rather than rushing through this step as often do as teachers to ?save? time since we feel pressured by our curriculum and tight timelines.  However, appropriate instruction will most likely save time in the end since students will need less teacher guidance when locating their cache.  I also believe that asking students to brainstorm uses of the GPS as one teacher did in the article is a great suggestion and plan on asking my students to do the same thing.  I will most likely discover that my students have many ideas on applications of the GPS in our classroom that I have not even considered.  Teachers in the Lary article also mention the possibilities available to teachers who do not own a GPS with a variation called locationless caching.  One instructional technology specialist had students basically create their own virtual museum on Native American history by creating a cache in search of information on this topic.  I found this use of GPS technology to be very helpful because this variation is one that I could use with my students almost immediately without purchasing any software or hardware.  This variation will be very useful since there are several possible applications to my French classroom.

            In this article, I was very interested in the possibilities available to students with the various types of caches.  In one of the examples, the students were grouped into teams and given hints on where to find each of a set of three caches.  I would like to do something similar with my students except have the clues to their scavenger hunt written in French.  I feel that a scavenger hunt would be an excellent compliment to when I teach location words and school vocabulary to my students.  Instead of students simply learning this list of vocabulary words by more traditional means, I think that it would be interesting if they had to complete a scavenger hunt around the school campus in order to locate and identify hidden caches of school items.  As a further step, I would like to have my students actually create the scavenger hunt themselves in teams and write their own clues, which they in turn give to another team to complete.  With this step added, students are taking more ownership in the lesson and it becomes even more student-centered. 

I also found the Travel Bugs application to be of particular interest.  The article suggested using them more at the elementary level.  However, I feel that this form of geocaching would fit very well into my second language classroom.  Since it is difficult for many of my students to travel abroad, I feel that having a Travel Bug would be an excellent way for all of my students to learn about another country and culture and to practice their writing skills.  In the past, my students have communicated with other classes and students and abroad using e-pals.  However, Travel Bugs would provide a new and innovative approach to this exchange.  With this application, I would assign each student in the class a day to take the travel bug to somewhere in our community and to take a photo with the travel bug.  This student would be responsible for describing this location or locations in French to the students in France or another francophone country.  When they were done, I would have students log his movements and journey here in French and to post the pictures of his travels.  Then, I would have my students release the Travel Bug into a cache in a francophone country and have my students request photos of sites they want to see and things they want to learn about during their Travel Bug?s journey.  In the end, students would have a much interactive way of learning about the French language and culture and they would have more control over what they were learning and a stronger motivation to communicate in the target language.  

Posted at 10:08PM Sep 22, 2006 by bdbook in General  |  Comments[1]