Geocaching for Schools and Communities

Hide-and-seek is an age-old game that has never lost its allure. Geocaching—using a global positioning system and other navigational techniques to find hidden containers, or caches—brings this classic favorite to an exciting new level.

Geocaching for Schools and Communities is the ideal resource for organizing geocaching for learners of any age group. Written by authors who have presented geocaching at five national AAHPERD conferences, this one-stop resource provides everything you need to know about leading and participating in geocaching activities:

• How to use GPS units and set up caching activities

• How to use both low-tech and high-tech approaches to caching so your fun isn’t dependent on your level of technological expertise

• How to create interdisciplinary connections using caching activities

• Strategies for developing geocaching programs and clubs in a variety of settings, including schools and recreation and youth programs

You learn the history of geocaching, the nuts and bolts of how it works, and strategies for using geocaching for health-related fitness. This book offers in-depth information about satellites and the triangulation necessary for locating latitude and longitude coordinates and how to use computers and the Internet in geocaching as well as low-tech discussions of using maps in finding caches.

You also explore the numerous types of caches available, learn step by step how to find and log a cache, and discover the types of items commonly placed in a cache. Along the way, you receive tips on caching etiquette.

In addition to the geocaching learning experience, the book includes a chapter devoted to achieving fitness through geocaching. All the learning experiences are built around interdisciplinary connections with academic subjects. The book contains four complete learning experiences for each discipline: language arts, science, math, and social studies.

Choose from 31 learning experiences to use with your group, or use these ideas as a starting point to create your own learning experiences. The variety of experiences help keep the adventures fresh and lively, and the learners will clamor for more.

Geocaching for Schools and Communities will get kids, adults, and families outdoors being active and having fun. The interdisciplinary learning experiences—involving physical education, language arts, math, science, and social studies—bring in an educational dimension that enhances the fun for learners of all ages. Through the expert guidance of the authors, you are grounded in the basics and can advance the games as far as you want, adapting them for age and experience levels.

Each learning experience lets you know what ages the activity is appropriate for, the objectives of the experience, the equipment needed, a complete description of how to conduct the activity, and how to assess the experience. The authors also provide key points for leaders to look for as the students go through the experience, as well as ways to vary each activity by introducing new skills or changing the level of difficulty.

So what are you waiting for? There’s a cache somewhere out there for your group right now! Get Geocaching forSchools and Communities and track it down.

J. Kevin Taylor, PhD, is a professor in the kinesiology department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in California. He has trained physical education teachers and taught outdoor education since 1994 and has made more than 50 professional presentations at national, state, and regional conferences. In his leisure time, he enjoys being with and playing with his family, playing soccer, and riding his bicycle.

DuAnn E. Kremer, PhD, HFS, is an associate professor of exercise physiology at Lynchburg College in Virginia. One of her areas of interest is in motivating people to increase their physical activity. She is a member of AAHPERD and ACSM and has made numerous national geocaching presentations. She is an experienced geocacher, with more than 300 finds, and she also enjoys kayaking, hiking, and mountain biking in her spare time.

Katherine Pebworth, PhD, is an associate professor and department chair of physical education and kinesiology at Lincoln Memorial University (LMU) in Harrogate, Tennessee. She is a lifetime member of AAHPERD and has made numerous geocaching presentations at the state, district, and national levels. She enjoys hiking, geocaching, and watching sports at LMU.

Peter Werner, PED, is distinguished professor emeritus at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. He has written three related books on interdisciplinary learning and edited the film series for the American Master Teacher Program. He is a lifetime member of AAHPERD and served as chair of the Editorial Review Board for Strategies in 2007-08 and as senior editor of Teaching Elementary Physical Education from 2000 to 2003. He has made numerous geocaching presentations at all levels, takes to the waters as a whitewater canoeist, and enjoys broom making and fly fishing.