Tag: Education

/ Adela B /

How Teens Discover Geocaching

By Kara Bonilla

Ever think that the only things teenagers do are play video games, lay around, and complain? Think again. Teenagers worldwide have picked up on geocaching and their passion for the sport is only growing stronger with age. A recent survey shows nearly five percent of geocachers are 18 or younger, that’s still nearly a quarter of a million geocachers.

Joey with cache GC1QYHV, Camino a la Buena Vista

Joey (jmilla210), 15, from California has been geocaching for two years. Joey has loved the game ever since he was first introduced to geocaching. He found his first cache with family members on Thanksgiving Day of 2009.

When asked about out geocaching for the first time, Joey said, “Finding my first cache was amazing.  I didn’t really know what it was at first, but I learned much more about the game and quickly developed a regular habit of finding a few caches each day.” Since then, Joey has found 259 caches and hidden 13 caches in his area. Joey also likes to attend geocaching events, as they give him the opportunity to meet people, his age or not, that love geocaching as much as he does. The game always gives Joey something to look forward to wherever he is, and he is always excited to go find a cache.

Chad in a mineshaft while finding his all-time favorite cache, GC21QWN The Cobalt Zone

From Killingworth, Connecticut, United States, 18-year-old Chad Golembeski’s (DeluxeLunchbox) experiences as a geocacher all started with a gift of a GPS device for Christmas at the age of 14. Now, four years later, Chad owns 10 caches and has found 164 geocaches throughout Connecticut, Vermont, and Massachusetts.

When talking about his first find, Chad said,“When I found my first geocache, I thought it was extremely cool that someone had posted these coordinates online and I found them.”  Chad was a member of his high school’s geocaching club before graduation, and his first logged cache was the one at his school. With the club, he completed large multicaches, found caches at various state parks, and recruited friends who now like to geocache. For Chad, geocaching is fun way to get outside and explore with his friends. “I personally like geocaching because [it] brings me out to new places that I wouldn’t have known of before.”

Chris with cache contents of GC2XAF6, Feed the Mosquitos II

Chris (Coldgears), 16, from Pennsylvania in the United States, has recently discovered his love for geocaching. All it took was for him to stumble upon the geocaching app on his new phone about a year ago, and Chris was hooked. Chris then introduced his two friends to the game, in return for introducing him to letterboxing a while back.

According to Chris, what he likes most about geocaching, “ …is the time spent outdoors…Without it I wouldn’t be in the woods nearly as much.” With over 300 caches found, Chris enjoys how geocaching gets him to the outdoors with his friends on a regular basis.

There are many ways teens can learn about geocaching, and eventually love the game as much as these guys do. Finding a local organization or group who geocaches, such as Girl or Boy Scouts, checking for geocaching events in your area, creating an account on Geocaching.com, and downloading the Geocaching application for your smartphone are all simple ways teens can get started. The love for geocaching begins with a simple step like these guys took, creating a passion for the game that can last for a lifetime, and teens everywhere can take that step today.

 

 

/ Eric Schudiske

Explore Canada’s Beautiful Parks by Geocaching during Canadian Environment Week

For the first time, Canadian Environment Week uses the GPS enabled treasure-hunt of geocaching to share the beauty of Canadian Parks.

The Canadian Environment Week geocaching contest runs from April 30 to June 11, 2011. During this time, geocaches containing a password can be found in National Parks, at National Historic Sites and on National Wildlife Areas throughout Canada. It’s an opportunity for geocachers to explore these areas and even have a chance to win prizes. Adventurers wishing to participate in the contest must collect a password from the selected geocaches and submit it on the Canadian Environment Week website. Contest participation and the password are not required in order to simply log your finds on any of these great caches.

Click here to view the bookmark list of the Canadian Environment Week geocaches that are listed on Geocaching.com, thanks to the Atlantic Canada Geocaching Association. A few others can be found through Environment Canada directly.

Even without prizes, geocaching during Canadian Environment Week is a great opportunity to explore Canada’s natural beauty. Canadian National Parks, National Historic Sites and National Wildlife Areas are located on the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic coasts, across the interior mountains and plains and Great Lakes, reaching as far north and south as Canada goes!

Geocachers will enjoy the breathtaking scenery and inspiring natural surroundings of Canada. National Parks provide the perfect setting for tuning into nature, learning about it, appreciating it, respecting it and pledging to protect it. Celebrate Canadian Environment Week by doing just that, and don’t forget to CITO to help preserve the environment.

 

/ Eric Schudiske /

Go Geocaching and Don’t Forget Your Sheep

Here’s a little geocaching scenario for you. You’re about to embark on your next geocaching adventure. Your mind starts racing through the all-too-familiar checklist: GPS (check), pen (check), extra batteries (check)… wait, you’re forgetting something. What could it be? Extra batteries? Nope. You almost forgot to bring your stuffed-animal sheep. Whew, that was a close call.

That’s the actual geocaching checklist for Ontario’s Cheryl Shaw and her husband Dave Devine. They call themselves “Team Sheep.”

Cheryl and Dave (minus sheep)

Cheryl and Dave started geocaching just over a year ago. Almost all of their 401 finds share something in common— a picture of their stuffed animal sheep with the cache. Cheryl says, “I now own more pictures of that sheep than I do of my family.”

The whole practice of posing a stuffed animal by a cache began innocently enough.

Cheryl says, “It all started with some travel coin I picked up. They wanted a picture with the coin and me. But somehow I didn’t feel like being photographed that day. So I looked around my house for something cutesy to photograph with the coin and found ‘sheep’ sitting on my sewing table. ‘Good enough,’ I thought, and out the door I went to go caching. Since then, I have photographed the sheep at every cache we have found.”

Sheep proposes

The sheep, and his wardrobe, evolved. He now has several outfits, everything from a karate uniform, fatigues and a hockey jersey to seasonal outfits for Easter, Halloween and Christmas. He even has a tux.

Cheryl says that the sheep recently got serious about a relationship: “Last week he even proposed to a fellow cacher ring and all!”

The other cacher had just gotten engaged. Cheryl says the sheep has developed his own personality. The log that accompanies the proposal picture reads: “We told the geo sheep about how Lisa got engaged and he was a little heartbroken, ‘Tell her that if things don’t work out with that nano guy I’m available!’ he said.’Sure thing’ we said, ‘You were definitely her second choice.'”

“It certainly adds to the fun to geocache with an avatar,” Cheryl says. “Cache owners have appreciated the sheep pictures. When people contact me they act like sheep is real, such as ‘say hi to sheep for me, or sheep looked very handsome today or sorry I missed meeting the sheep.'” She has even received fan mail for sheep.

Even if you never see sheep on your geocaching rounds, Cheryl hopes the idea travels. “I would thoroughly recommend that other cachers use an avatar. It’s fun. It’s more than just signing a log and running away. We try very hard to pose the sheep and take several pictures, choosing the best one for the web page.”

She says that there are other benefits to using an avatar as well.  “We tend to remember all our caches better, and best of all sheep always has some smart remark or stupid joke about the cache. (He can get away with saying things I can’t.)”

With more than 400 cache logs in one year, there’s no telling where sheep may show up next. If you’re in the Ottawa, Ontario area, you can now visit Cheryl’s first “sheep-themed” cache, “The Sheeps’ Revenge” (GC25CMF).

Would you ever consider using an avatar? What sort of avatar would you use?

/ Eric Schudiske /

Geocaching Class – Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

Teachers are using geocaching to take their lesson plans out of the classroom and into the real world. Students learn about GPS technology, navigation, spatial concepts, math and more through geocaching. Watch how one teacher from McKinney, Texas, USA employees geocaching to educate her students about science. The Lost & Found video takes you along during a typical school day as Mrs. Burford’s elementary school class learns through geocaching.

You can find even more resources for educators in our GPS in Education Forum.

Watch all the Lost & Found videos highlighting unique geocachers and the worldwide adventure of geocaching.

/ Eric Schudiske /

Boy Scouts Geocaching Merit Badge – Geocaching.com’s Lost & Found Video

This year, the Boy Scouts of America announced their plans for a new Geocaching Merit Badge. Watch our latest Lost & Found video to see how Boy Scout Troop 75 incorporates geocaching into their program. The scout troop from from Manhattan, Kansas also demonstrates some of the critical thinking and problem solving skills needed to earn the badge.

Requirements for the Geocaching Merit Badge are available online.  The official Geocaching Merit Badge patch is in final development and expected to be released in the near future.

Groundspeak is currently hosting a booth at the BSA 2010 National Scout Jamboree in Fort A.P. Hill, Virginia. Scouts there can borrow GPS devices to seek out geocaches hidden in the area during the event, which runs from July 26 – August 4, 2010.

Watch all the Lost & Found stories, which highlight the worldwide adventure of geocaching.