Geocaching is among the issues that I spend a great little bit of time speaking about in each my workshop and in my webinar about mixing know-how into out of doors studying. Geocaching is a good exercise to do to get youngsters exterior for hands-on studying experiences. Here are 5 issues that you may educate by way of geocaching actions.
Geospatial Awareness
The core of geocaching actions is finding hidden caches. This will be completed by way of the usage of GPS (both on a cellphone, a smartwatch, or on a devoted GPS unit) or in an “old-fashioned” methodology of utilizing maps. Finding a cache can require college students to have an understanding of the gap between two or extra locations.
Cardinal Direction
Do your college students know during which route to show in the event you inform them to stroll north? Teach them about cardinal route by way of geocaching actions. You can arrange geocaching actions in and round your faculty yard that do not require college students to make use of any digital units. Simply make a map or make a listing of clues that give college students details about the instructions and distances they should go in an effort to discover a collection of caches.
Earth Science
Let college students check use their information of rock varieties or plant varieties as they search geocaches. You can incorporate a bit civic responsibility into the lesson by asking college students to select up litter they discover whereas geocaching.
Citizenship
If you or your college students use the official Geocaching web site to search out caches in your space, you could discover some that border on non-public property. This is a chance to show college students about respecting the property of others. Another alternative to show a lesson about citizenship is present in enjoying by the guidelines of geocaching. For instance, college students should not transfer caches they’ve discovered.
Digital Citizenship
As with any exercise that comes with an internet, public-facing part collaborating in official Geocaching actions offers us with a great alternative to overview the fundamentals of excellent digital citizenship. Students who’re putting caches for inclusion on the general public listings of Geocaches have to be aware of not together with personally figuring out and different delicate info of their descriptions and hints.
Bonus merchandise: It’s arduous for me to speak about geocaching with out serious about a few traditional “geography songs.” Enjoy!