GPS TREASURE HUNTS: INTRODUCING K-16 STUDENTS TO GPS AND ITS IMPORTANCE IN REMOTE SENSING

It is standard practice in satellite remote sensing to field check imagery by locating specific places or objects using GPS (Global Positioning Systems). Typically, however, students find it difficult to understand the importance of checking satellite data, after all “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Also, the idea of locating land cover classes such as agriculture or forest often appears unexciting and therefore little attempt is made to fully learn the methods associated with ground-truthing these “pictures”. With this in mind, the first attempt at a “GPS treasure hunt” was undertaken as an activity for a workshop for K-12 teachers in the summer of 2002. This workshop, hosted by NASA Glenn and the Ohio Aerospace Institute (OAI) in Cleveland, was designed to educate teachers about Earth Science technology, specifically remote sensing. A morning of instruction on the use of handheld GPS units was given. Later, the teachers were divided into groups and were unleashed on Cleveland with a set of clues, UTM coordinates, GPS units, and digital cameras. They were required to find locations such as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vietnam Memorial, and several parks. As an incentive prizes were offered to the winning team (the team that found the most locations in the least amount of time). To prove that locations were reached, the teams had to photograph themselves at each location. Upon returning, all cameras were collected. The digital images were converted into slides within a few minutes and shown as a slide show to all participants. A winning team was chosen. The results were overwhelmingly positive. Of the six teams, all except one reached the majority of locations. When questioned, the teachers admitted to initial confusion, but ultimately became proficient in the use of GPS by the end of the treasure hunt. This activity has also been tested in two undergraduate classes at Kent State University: Earth Imagery (enrollment 8), and Remote Sensing (enrollment 28). These KSU students had to find locations on campus. As with the teacher workshop, the results were overwhelmingly positive: students became proficient in the use of GPS within 2 hours. Unlike classes in previous years, students did not require additional instruction on the use of GPS later in the semester.