Geocaching
I found out about Geocaching in an article called Geocaching for Fun and Learning by Mary Alice Anderson (a US media specialist and online educator) in Multimedia & Internet Schools magazine Vol 15(2) 2008.
Geocaching.com and other geocache websites enable people around the world to participate in VERY active learning. A Geocache can come in many forms – it may be:
- a hidden box containing a log book (that you sign when you find it) and a trinket (that you may keep and replace with another)
- a virtual cache – a real place, landmark or just a plaque of historical or other interest,
- a microcache – tiny the size of a film cannister
- a multicache – where one has clues to find the next
It can be a learning exercise to find a cache and there may be an exercise contained in the cache. This could be used in any KLA. You can create geocaches yourself and register them.
Just enter your postcode on the website to find geocaches near you. At Geocaching.com I can see one in the next suburb to where I live. The cache has details like how much time you need to spend at the site. You put the cache’s co-ordinates into a GPS unit and hone in. This is the only hitch – a GPS unit is a requirement.
Teachers could set up a multicache for an excursion that included learning about your KLA and have some rewards hidden in them. For Maths, students will learn about map skills, topography and longitude and latitude.
You could even set up a quest for geocaches involving a few local schools just to add some interest.
Has anyone had any experience with this?
There is a blog about geocaches on Chris Betcher’s blog.
