Geocaching Makes Walking Fun for Physical Education Classes
By Dick Moss
Walking is one of the best exercises for lifetime fitness. But let's face it - plain old walking can be a boring proposition for students. As a result, the canny physical education teacher will find ways to make a walk more exciting.
Thanks to modern technology, there is now a fun activity that combines satellite navigation, orienteering, computer skills, treasure hunting...and walking. It's a super cross-curricular game that your students will love.
Called "geocaching," (pronounced "geo cashing") it makes use of GPS units to find prizes hidden by other geocachers.
WHAT IS A GPS?
GPS stands for "Global Positioning System" and these handheld electronic units make use of satellites to pinpoint your latitude and longitude to within three meters. A GPS will help you navigate from your current position to another location using their built-in maps and instructions.
GPS units cost anywhere from $100 and up. As an alternative, some Blackberry units can be GPS-enabled. You can download "Geocache Navigator" for free for 60 days. For more information, see the "Blackberry.Geocaching" website.
However, the big surge in GPS use will come when regular GPS-enabled cell phones hit the market. It is estimated that 500 million such cell phones will be in use, worldwide, by 2012.
GEOCACHING - HOW TO GET STARTED
To start a geocaching quest, log in to the "Geocaching" website. Enter the postal code of your area and you'll see several local cache locations, each with a short verbal description, a level of difficulty and a location shown on the Google Map website.
To get your GPS co-ordinates, you must first register (it's free). You can then receive the GPS longitude and latitude co-ordinates. An example might be N43o40.110'W083o23.378'
Your job as a geocacher is to enter the co-ordinates into your GPS unit, then follow the directions to the cache. This will involve a nice hike for your students.
Before embarking on your quest, you could give a cross-curricular lesson on latitude, longitude and satellites...not to mention the use of the world wide web.
ONCE YOU FIND YOUR LOCATION - WHAT TO DO?
Your GPS will get you within 6 to 20 feet from your target. You then have to search to find the cache, which usually will be a plastic container.
Most containers will contain a dollar-store item such as a plastic animal, pencil or measuring tapes. They will also contain a logbook that you can read, and then sign. Seeing who else has been to the cache is half the fun. Take the prize, then replace it with a prize of your own.
CLASS LOGISTICS
You can go geocaching with your entire class, or split into groups, as long as each group has a supervisor. Also, you could also establish a cache or two of your own, in a location you know to be safe and easily accessible.
The good thing about a GPS is that it's hard to get lost when you have one in your hand. It will leave a trail of "bread crumbs" as you walk - little dots on the display screen that show you how to retrace your steps. However, it's also good to bring a compass, just in case the GPS batteries die.
And the best thing about geocaching? It will get your students walking - and make it fun at the same time!
About the author
Dick Moss (editor@peupdate.com) is the publisher of PE Update.com - a website that keeps physical educators and coaches up-to-date on over 40 sports, fitness and coaching topics. The website also provides a free newsletter, blog and sample articles. Check it out at: www.peUpdate.com from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
|
|
Copy This Article
For FREE!!!
You can use this article and copy it on your own website
for free! All you have to do is make sure the article
is copied with no changes and includes the "About
The Author" text. Also please ensure that all url's
are hyperlinked according. Thank you. |
Link To This Article - And We'll
Link Back To Your Website!
You are more then welcome to link to this article! All
you have to do is copy this webpage address from the
address bar and create a link on your website. Please
use the title of this article for your link text. Please
get in contact once you have linked to this article
and we'll link back to you! Thank you. |
|
|
|
Other great articles from this category...
|
Related Sites
|
|
