Sample of lesson on Mapping.
The idea of customizing maps is wonderful especially from a Social Studies point of view. I can produce maps that plot the early explorers and their routes and years as they came from Europe. One of my pet projects when my class and I discuss mapping and longitude and latitude is to do a lesson and a lab outside on Geocaching. We discuss relative location such as West Michigan and exact location such as our school or classroom. I then have students in groups go on a GPS walk after giving them exact GPS locations. Now with this map I can have them play with GPS at home to find geocaches in the neighborhood. They can even find the geocaches without a GPS if they zoom in on satelite view and print the picture. They probably would be within 50 feet accuracy. The use of maps are endless. In fact Ken Jennings the Jeopardy champion wrote in his autobiography that he learnt everything by studying maps. I can see that I will be using this new skill a great deal in the future. I also love the street view that google presents I could have kids go to places all over and feel like they are standing in front of landmarks.
We will be using latitude and longitude to find exact locations. Use the map to try and find Geocaches. Hand held GPS works best. However, cell phones with GPS also work. For more information about this fun activity visit www.geocaching.com If you click on the pin you can open up information about its location by clicking on get directions. Also the cache name and who placed it are details about the geocache.
Geocaches Near the School
View Griffin School Geocaches in a larger map
How to Geocache:
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