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ERIC Number: EJ1045234
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-0300
EISSN: N/A
Discovering Hidden Treasures with GPS Technology
Nagel, Paul; Palmer, Roger
Social Studies and the Young Learner, v26 n4 p15-17 Mar-Apr 2014
"I found it!" Addison proudly proclaimed, as she used an iPhone and Global Positioning System (GPS) software to find the hidden geocache along the riverbank. Others in Lisa Bostick's fourth grade class were jealous, but there would be other geocaches to find. With the excitement of movies like "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Indiana Jones" in the popular culture, who doesn't like the thrill of clues leading to hidden treasure? The recreational activity of geocaching, discussed in this article, offers exactly that. In a game of geocaching, participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find a geocache (container) hidden at that location. As a learning activity, geocaching reinforces the concepts of latitude and longitude while getting students outside of the classroom. It also helps students better understand issues of scale from the GPS screens and the cardinal directions when moving in the field to find these caches.
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800; Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 4
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Louisiana
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A