Getting Started
If you are not entirely sure what geocaching is, the Bright Hub article What is Geocaching? by Michele McDonough will clear that right up. Once you are familiar with the term, you will know that you will require at least one handheld GPS in order to reap the benefits of using geocaching in your classroom.
While most geocaching enthusiasts track down existing geocaches listed on websites such as Geocaching.com, you are not restricted to doing so with your classroom (although you certainly may benefit from one). You can decide what you want to teach your classroom using geocaching and then create your own geocache based on your needs. You might think geocaching would benefit a geography lesson, which is true, but you can tailor geocaching to nearly any other type of classroom as well.
Benefits of Using Geocaching to Teach Math and Science
If you are weary of hearing students in your math classroom lament, "I'll never use this stuff in the real world," consider the benefits of using geocaching for a math lesson. Bring angles to life by hiding or finding the coordinates of a geocache at the top of a small, sloping hill, or use one to determine the area of a large park.
Select a geocache location. Break the classroom down into several groups and give them each a list of items they need to find along the way. These can vary depending upon your environment, but could include types of rocks, plants or pictures of birds taken with digital or disposable cameras. The first group to complete their list wins, and the whole class will benefit by working as teams and experiencing nature firsthand.
Your classroom can be on the hiding instead of the seeking end of geocaching, as well. Create several geocaches and include items the classroom can track together, such as "Geocoins" or "Travel Bugs," which can be tracked online. Determine which geocache travels furthest.
Plant several small geocaches along a route, and give the classroom the coordinates of only the first one, which will contain a math problem and note cards with two or three possible solutions. Each solution will have new coordinates, but only the correct solution will lead to the next geocache.
Benefits of Using Geocaching to Teach Social Studies
Motivate students to learn about local history by finding or planting geocaches that are located at historical sites near your classroom. Or, as with the math geocaching project, leave traceable geocaches and track their locations. The students can benefit by learning historical information regarding each location to which the geocache items travel.
Benefits of Using Geocaching to Teach English
Use geocaching as a fun, active literature exam or for extra credit. Similar to the math activity, hide several geocaches along a safe route near your classroom. The first geocache can contain a question regarding a book the classroom was assigned to read, along with a few multiple-choice answers. Each possible answer will have a coordinate, but only the correct response will get the students to the next geocache location. Make sure incorrect answers send students somewhere secure so they will not get lost. For example, send them back to the bus or to a rest area where a chaperone is waiting.
Everything Else
Use your creativity and you can surely find benefits for using geocaching for most classrooms. Physical Education teachers can use geocaching as a way to get out of the gym and make physical activity fun without necessarily being competitive. Art teachers can benefit from geocaching by having their classrooms design and make imaginative geocache containers, log journals and goodies. The only downside may be trying to get your students back into the classroom!
How to Use Geocaching as a Classroom Teaching Tool
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