To learn more about my second topic, I visited the most popular geocaching site, which is located at www.geocaching.com.
Geocaching is an outdoor "treasure-hunting", actually a cache hunting, game where players use a GPS (global positioning system) to locate the cache. You may be familiar with GPS as they are now frequently found in cars. Though my 1998 Subaru Impreza does not sport such high-tech features, a lot of newer cars now have the GPS option...and I don't know if any models offer this technology standard.
Anyway, people set up caches all over the world and participants use their GPS to find the items. The cache typically consists of inexpensive objects, such as trinkets - small toys, etc. that are placed in some sort of waterproof container. The cache can literally be anywhere - including some underwater locations!
Once the player finds the cache, he/she is allowed to take a "prize", but they are also asked to leave something for the cache as well. Does this sound easy? Supposedly it's not. It's one thing for your GPS to give you the coordinates and thus an approximate location, but it's another to actually find the cache once you're there.
I look forward to reading and researching more about this topic. For now, after reading my blurb, you may have some specific questions that you're curious to learn more about. If that's the case, visit http://www.geocaching.com/faq/ for answers to some of your questions.
Enjoy!
-Kate
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4 comments:
Hi Kate-
This geocaching sounds quite intriguing! Am I to understand correctly that it is all played virtually? I think high schoolers would be intertested in a challenge like this but I'm not sure if the gratification would be immediate enough for elementary students. After all of these courses are over, I wouldn't mind trying this myself! i look forward to reading more about this exciting topic!!
**Beatrice**
Hi Beatrice-
Actually, geocashing is not played online...it's actually done in real-life - go figure! However, the GPS coordinates for the cache are posted online.
So far I've read only about geocaching that appears to be targeted to adults...though let me investigate how this fits into an educational setting. This will be my topic (I hope) for my next post!
-Kate
It seems like the GPS Adventures Maze is an online interactive portion of the game. It has a section for kids and parents and seems to be a place where participants can log their geocaching experiences. The coolest thing was the designs of the future drawn by children! They came up with some amazingly creative ideas.
After reading further into the FAQ's on the site. I wonder if this really works? Are the people who are part of this community really honest? Basically, it seems to function on the honor system. I see many possiblities for how people could abuse the trust of others in this game. For example, creating fake caches to see how many people they can get to go look for them. I am slightly concerned about this.
On the other hand, I'm intrigued. I don't currently own a GPS device, but always thought it would be handy to have one (especially since I don't have a very good sense of direction). I don't have a car now either, but apparently they makes devices that are hand held as well.
I also wonder about how students would use this technology in schools and I'm looking forward to reading about that.
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