Did you know that COGA has GPS units available- FOR FREE- for educators and their classes? Just click here for more info!GPS units give new meaning to middle school students
With a Global Positioning System (GPS) unit, students can determine where they are anywhere on the planet. And they can determine so many other things.
Social Study teachers district wide are using Garmin Etrex handheld GPS units during the months of December and January to introduce students to geospatial technology. The GPS units are supplied by the Colorado Geographic Alliance through a grant from Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Colorado.
“Students are taking part in lessons like egg hunts, mapping their community and scavenger hunts using the GPS units, as well as geospatial mapping on the Internet with ArcGIS.”-Jenny Pettit, Social Studies and Secondary Literacy Coordinator, St. Vrain Valley Schools
History of the GPS Project
The GPS Project began in 1973 and became fully operational in 1994. The system is run by the United States Department of Defense and consists of a network of 24 active satellites located nearly 20,000 km above the earth’s surface. That’s the same as driving from Melbourne to Perth six times!
The GPS Project began in 1973 and became fully operational in 1994. The system is run by the United States Department of Defense and consists of a network of 24 active satellites located nearly 20,000 km above the earth’s surface. That’s the same as driving from Melbourne to Perth six times!
Erie Middle School Students Plot the Size of the Roman Empire.
GPS technology draws a connection between the places student are seeing and the historic events that happened there.
GPS technology draws a connection between the places student are seeing and the historic events that happened there.
Katelynn Ryan, seventh grade Social Studies teacher at Erie Middle School, used the ten handheld GPS units supplied by Colorado Geographic Alliance to plot the actual size of ancient Rome. Her seventh graders were studying the Roman Empire.
“GPS technology helps students tackle real-world problems in an interdisciplinary and engaging way. It’s really the wave of the future in education.”-Katelynn Ryan, Seventh Grade Social Studies Teacher, Erie Middle School
With the football field representing the world, students used their positions, their body shapes and their GPS units to gain a real-world perspective like no other.
“We were studying important figures in the Roman Empire like Julius Caesar and Augustus. Using our football field and the GPS units, we determined the actual size of that empire in comparison to the rest of the world. It was really cool.”-Alec Fling, Seventh Grader, Erie Middle School
“When we plotted longitude and latitude, I realized the world is much bigger than I ever thought”-Ashley Ross, Seventh Grader, Erie Middle School
The ten units were shared by two classes from December 8th – 12th to determine longitude and latitude positioning via geospatial technology.
These GPS exercises support the Colorado Academic Standards asking students to use maps and geographic tools to analyze features on the earth, while solving geographic questions. Using the GPS units in combination with ArcGIS mapping on a PC or iPad, students understand how to use the technology as they practice 21st century skills.
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