This is a presentation that I gave at MACUL 2011 about the integration of Geocaching in your classroom. It is also a basic overview of the sport.

1. Welcome! Please answer the poll. Welcome! Please answer the poll. Your Text Here Your Text Here

2. The Return of Geocaching 101 John Phillips Battle Creek Public Schools @BCGeek

3. What is GPS? GPS is a collection of 24 satellite’s that are in geosynchronous orbit with the Earth. The satellite’s send a signal to the receivers that allow them to triangulate your location. GPS is accurate down to approx. 6 feet.

4. A typical car GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com Roughly a $100 investment. Will work for Geocaching.

5. A Typical Trail GPS This model sells for $99. Very durable, and designed for trail work that is necessary in Geocaching.

6. What is Geocaching? A high tech treasure hunt that allows people to log on to www.geocaching.com and find caches hidden by other members.

7. The official movie… http://www.geocaching.com

8. Wait… What is a cache? A cache is a container that is used for geocaching. Images from shop.groundspeak.com

9. How does it work? Go to www.geocaching.com Create a free account. Use your zip code to search for caches near your location. (48226 for Cobo) There are about 15 caches within a mile of Cobo!

10. How does it work? Cont. When you get on the site, you can get the latitude and longitude coordinates of a cache. You can also download the waypoints to different caches.

11. Sample Cache Page

12. Lingo Muggle Mystery Cache Multi-Cache TFTC Cache DNF TFTH

13. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com Image courtesy of Garmin.com

14. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

15. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

16. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

17. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

18. Garmin Nuvi GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

19. How to use a Car GPS Image courtesy of Garmin.com

20. The Resulting Map Image courtesy of Garmin.com

21. Tips for finding Use your sense of environment Look for abnormal things. Trust your instinct. They are VERY well hidden.

22. Education Application Travel Bugs DEN Geocoin 2010 Completely Trackable Think “Flat Stanley” Bugs can have different jobs. Only for kids. Other classrooms only. Finders have to post a quick entry on a wiki. Talk about the temperature and weather when they found the bug.

23. Cross Curricular Math Students have to solve a problem to get a coordinate. Science Students have to identify the plant material found near or on the cache. Samples of rock in each cache. Social Studies Geography Orienteering Language Arts Writing cache clues. Maintaining a blog about their travel bugs.

24. Education Application Cache In, Trash Out Image courtesy of Garmin.com

25. Educaching.com

26. Contact Me I have a blog:http://denblogs.com/jphillips217 On Twitter: @bcgeek On Skype: jphillipsbc On Del.icio.us: http://delicious.com/MrPhillips