At the start of the project’s second year, the Petersons attached a physical card to the travel bugs in order to inform geocachers that the travel bug they located was part of a school project, and that the project’s goal was to have travel bugs from two different schools switch places.
In addition to historical and geographical information about the travel bugs’ locations, students also used math to determine the miles the travel bugs logged, recorded weather patterns during the bugs’ travels, and learned about the cultures in the different areas that appeared on the travel bugs’ logs. Students could keep blogs or journals about the travel bugs.
The Petersons recommend that teachers in their district look into Google Earth and Google Maps, PowerPoint, website creation, and video conferencing and GPS tools. Handheld, durable GPS units are relatively inexpensive.
Students can use any video conferencing program, or can use web cams with Skype.
Educators who are not sure where to begin can go to Polycom’s Collaborations Around the Planet, which is a professional community of educators who are seeking to collaborate on video conferencing projects.
Follow Managing Editor Laura Devaney on Twitter @eSN_Laura.
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