Geocaching when you can't go outside

[jrh312]

I'm a middle school science teacher, and last year I started an outdoors club for my 7th and 8th graders. We mostly focused on camping and local wildlife in the spring, but this October (starting today actually) we're focusing on geocaching. Most of them have only the most vague idea of what the sport involves, and through the four times we're meeting this month, I'd like to have them find a few caches as a group and hide a cache.

 

Here's my question: It's storming here today and today is also our first meeting. If it's too bad to go outside this afternoon, I'd like to do some sort of indoor "introduction to geocaching" activities. With a novice group like this (20 or so people), what would be a good way to introduce them to the sport without actually being able to go find a cache outside?

 

My plan is to work on some ideas for how to hide our cache. I'd like to use a puzzle of some sort for finding the coordinates...but beyond that, does anybody else have any ideas about how to approach geocaching from in the classroom?

 

Also, I've registered a name for the group: OLCOutdoors - so hopefully we can create and publish a cache in the Erie, PA area within the next month or so!

[+Coyote's Girl]

I don't know how large your school is, but the one in my town is pretty huge. Could you stash one inside, perhaps behind the gym bleachers or somesuch place and have them track it from your classroom? It's what I'd do.

[+steve p]

A couple of ideas:

Be sure the students understand latitude and longitude and how it relates to maps.

Give them an overview of the GPS satellite system and how a GPS receiver works to display coordinates.

Talk about how geocachers should be responsible in the outdoors, like picking up trash, not harming plants, etc.

 

Good luck.

[+Team O-Zone]

If the weather is bad outside today, try to create a "scavenger hunt" with in the school building(s). You can use some descriptive & decrypitve clues to have the students locate the "caches". This might be a great way to peak thier interest in Geocaching before you start up on the High Tech instruction of the GPS part of our sport. Then, after the hunt is done, you could go over the web site with the students, and maybe describe some of your personal adventures with some easy to "memorable" caches.

 

This might keep their interest up in the bad weather!

 

Good Luck & Have Fun!

[Dinoprophet]

A couple of ideas:

Be sure the students understand latitude and longitude and how it relates to maps.

Give them an overview of the GPS satellite system and how a GPS receiver works to display coordinates.

Talk about how geocachers should be responsible in the outdoors, like picking up trash, not harming plants, etc.

 

Good luck.

Great ideas. I especially like the first. Teaching how to read a topo would be good, too. Nip that straight-line-follow-the-arrow tendency in the bud.

 

Remember that it's an *outdoors* club. That's why I like the map reading idea best. It helps understand caching but is also a general outdoors skill.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Dinoprophet

[+Too Tall John]

A couple of ideas:

Be sure the students understand latitude and longitude and how it relates to maps.

Give them an overview of the GPS satellite system and how a GPS receiver works to display coordinates.

Talk about how geocachers should be responsible in the outdoors, like picking up trash, not harming plants, etc.

 

Good luck.

What he said.

 

In fact, I'd do this first, rain or shine. Understanding how a GPS works can be very useful information.

 

These being middle school kids, they WILL want to do more than just have a lesson, though. If your GPS will receive signal inside (depends on your antenna and the building structure, obviously) you could set up a mini-hunt inside if the weather is bad. You could even do a hunt w/out GPS.

[+Userzero]

You could explain what coordinates are by placing signs on the gym walls at regular intervals, like N10, N20, N30, N40, N50 etc on the north wall and W10, W20, W30, W40 etc on the West wall, and invent games to go with that. Explain navigation, hide micros along the wall and publish the coordinates, and send the kids in in small groups to find all the "caches" and write their names in the log. The team that finds the most caches win, or something like that.

[+The Cooker]

Find or create some simple puzzle caches.

 

You can solve the puzzle while it is raining then seek the cache when the sun returns.

 

Enjoy,

The Cooker

[jrh312]

I like these ideas. My GPSR doesn't get a signal in the building, so that's out...and there are religious ed. classes that go on in a few of the classrooms down the hall during the same time frame. The basic idea is "get out of the school by 3:30 so you don't disturb them", so I can stay in my classroom, but I can't be in the hall. It's kind of lame if you ask me, but at least I've had some great feedback from parents telling me that their kids really enjoy what we do in the outdoors club. It's sunny out now, so hopefully it'll stay that way.

 

My original plan, if we could go outside, was to teach them about the GPS coords and the "how-to's" as we walked because the nearest daytime cache is a multi that takes about an hour to find.

[+Damin69]

I like these ideas. My GPSR doesn't get a signal in the building, so that's out...and there are religious ed. classes that go on in a few of the classrooms down the hall during the same time frame. The basic idea is "get out of the school by 3:30 so you don't disturb them", so I can stay in my classroom, but I can't be in the hall. It's kind of lame if you ask me, but at least I've had some great feedback from parents telling me that their kids really enjoy what we do in the outdoors club. It's sunny out now, so hopefully it'll stay that way.

 

My original plan, if we could go outside, was to teach them about the GPS coords and the "how-to's" as we walked because the nearest daytime cache is a multi that takes about an hour to find.

I did see that some other teachers had posted such in one of the other forums. I liked the idea behind hiding a temporary Cache instead of takeing kids directly to a Live CACHE as chance of possibly comprimiseing the cache. Someone had mentioned that they had taken some of thier HS students to a cache and then a couple of kids that didnt really care about it went and muggled the Cache so the owner had to end up closeing it down. I still think they will get the idea of how it works with out going to an active Cache.

[jrh312]

I like these ideas. My GPSR doesn't get a signal in the building, so that's out...and there are religious ed. classes that go on in a few of the classrooms down the hall during the same time frame. The basic idea is "get out of the school by 3:30 so you don't disturb them", so I can stay in my classroom, but I can't be in the hall. It's kind of lame if you ask me, but at least I've had some great feedback from parents telling me that their kids really enjoy what we do in the outdoors club. It's sunny out now, so hopefully it'll stay that way.

 

My original plan, if we could go outside, was to teach them about the GPS coords and the "how-to's" as we walked because the nearest daytime cache is a multi that takes about an hour to find.

I did see that some other teachers had posted such in one of the other forums. I liked the idea behind hiding a temporary Cache instead of takeing kids directly to a Live CACHE as chance of possibly comprimiseing the cache. Someone had mentioned that they had taken some of thier HS students to a cache and then a couple of kids that didnt really care about it went and muggled the Cache so the owner had to end up closeing it down. I still think they will get the idea of how it works with out going to an active Cache.

 

I could see that being a problem. Hopefully I won't run into that here because this is a voluntary after-school club and everybody who's coming today has expressed an interest to me and several were interested in registering their own names and getting started outside of school. More of them than I would have guessed have handheld GPSRs. Beyond that, these are middle school students, so they can't drive for another couple of years (most of them are 12-13)...so they'd have to walk quite a distance to get to the ones we're finding.

[+Renegade Knight]

...does anybody else have any ideas about how to approach geocaching from in the classroom?...

Travel Bugs.

[+Firespinner]

Have them do a group art project to make a travel bug (the one I saw from an 8th grade class was a decorated stick) and then discuss what goal the class would like for their travelbug. Vote or discuss until one travel bug goal can be decided upon. Then when you meet on a nice day, release that bug in a geocache. As it progresses, you will have logs of where it has been. On the next day that you meet when it's raining, you can use that time to chart or draw on a big map the path the class travel bug has taken. :-) They could even be tasked with keeping a class journal and researching one interesting thing about every town/place the travelbug has stopped and visited. :-)

 

They could also work on a class signature item as a rainy-day craft.

Edited October 1, 2008 by Firespinner

[+Firespinner]

another idea.....it won't help for today but for future rainy days.............

 

When its nice and you DO go to geocaches, have students collect leaves along the way and preserve them in an album along with the day and place you found each leaf. THen when you have another rainy or too-cold day to go outside, you can teach them to use taxonomy charts to identify the trees by name. If there are any animal prints near by, they could even make quick plaster molds and then on rainy days do research and figure out which animal left the tracts. I don't think I'm allowed to post a company name in the forums, so I'm sending you a seperate PM of a great company for science students to study nature. They have all sorts of resources for teachers about track identification.

[+Hobo2]

Good day to build a cache to hide.

[+Zatahra]

How about showing them pictures of your area, then discuss what would be a good place for a hide as opposed to a not-so-good place.

 

I like the idea them making they're own little caches, complete with log book. Heck, they could even "camouflage" them with plastic leaves & ivy. Best one gets placed and listed online.

 

Set up an obstacle course in your room to help them find easier ways to caches you might hunt (around the desks instead of under or over them).

 

Just my wooden nickel's worth!

[+vw_k]

I'd definately agree with teaching them about latitude/longitude. Are they familiar with maps and map reading? If it is a club for outdoor activities then map use and caring for the environment would be a good lesson for all outdoor users and will be useful wether they take up geocaching or not.

 

How about identifying local historical buildings and planning a multi-cache or other kind of trail in your town, the students could be split into groups and each have to study and write a description of one local feature, all of them going towards one multi.

[+Rev Mike]

I live in the same city as you and would be willing to donate an ammo box.

 

- Rev Mike