If I gave an 8th grader a GPS?
I gave Nat G. the Garmin GPSmap 60CS to take on the coastal trip. I asked him to set some way points and see if he could collect as much data as possible. Actually, I gave it to Dr. Ward who gave it to Nat. I included a 150 page manual which I am sure was useful as a seat cushion for the long trip to the beach. What I got back was an incredible log of the trip as he set waypoints when they stopped at a rest area, Food Lion, as well as when they were driving, eating, and each activity that they did for the week. It is an awesome digital diary of the exact location on earth on what they did and when they did it. Here are some screen shots, although if you want to download the CoastalTrip_07 .kml file, you can open Google Earth and then use File – Open to travel the route yourself. 
Here is a shot of where they lived and learned for the week.
The Rachel Carson Preserve on Carrot Island is a culmination of the trip. See where they saw the horses and where they went swimming.
So, if I gave an 8th grader a GPS means I will connect them to their learning in ways that only enhance the learning they receive by walking the walk, wading in water, and sighting a horse. Of course, now we have data as to where the horses were this year. Is this the normal location? Will next years group find them in the same place? How much do they move in a year? Where are you in relationship to the horses? As more and more devices have GPS, what will we use the data for, or will we use the data?
Filed under: Learning, Student Work, Web 2.0 Tools
