Earth Quest: An Environmental GPS Adventure

1. Earth Quest Developed by Tracy Trimpe and Cheryl McDaniel for the Havana Junior High School Science Club Spring 2009 http://sciencespot.net/ An Environmental GPS Adventure

2. Earth Quest • Earth Quest will test your team’s navigation and problem-solving skills as you learn about issues that are facing our environment. • Each team will have the chance to complete 8 quests. Each quest involves a series of three waypoints with the last one being a challenge game. • Your team will use a GPS receiver to find the microcaches that are hidden around the schoolyard. Each one has inside about an environmental issue. Your team will need to use the fact to answer a question, which will help you find the next waypoint on your quest. • After completing 2 microcaches, your team will determine the final waypoint with the challenge you need to complete. Once you finish the challenge, you will receive your next Quest Card!

3. What is GPS? • GPS stands for Global Positioning System. • It uses 24 satellites positioned around the globe. The satellites are 12,000 miles from Earth’s surface. • We use GPS receivers to connect with the satellites to learn our position on Earth’s surface, which are based on latitude and longitude. Havana Junior High Latitude = 40.296917 NLongitude = 90.050007 W Images: http://geomag.usgs.gov/images/gps_001.jpg and http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/upload/img_400/longitude_latitude.gif

4. Satellite 2 Satellite 1 Satellite 3 We need a total of 3 satellites to get an accurate reading. How accurate is a GPS receiver? With today’s GPS receivers we can get as close as 3 meters or 9 feet. To determine our position, the receiver measures the time it takes to receive a signal from a satellite and converts it to a distance.

5. What is geocaching? Geocaching - An outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a GPS receiver to hide and seek containers called "geocaches“ (Wikipedia, 2009) Cache - A typical cache is a small waterproof container (usually a tupperware or ammo box) containing a logbook and "treasure," usually toys or trinkets of little value. Microcache – A small container (film canister) containing only a logbook. Waypoints – Locations where a cache is hidden; identified by latitude and longitude. Travel Bugs & Geocoins – Items that geocachers place in caches and track their locations as other geocaches move them to another cache. Muggles – Refers to people who do not geocache Geocaching.com – Website devoted to geocaching and provides information on all the caches around the world. As of April 2009, there were 777,062 geocaches around the world! Cafepress.com Shirt

6. Earth Quest Rules   Safety first! Microcaches have been placed in areas that should be easy to access. Keep your eyes open for trees, puddles, uneven ground, vehicles, and other hazards. Play fair! Teams are not allowed to sabotage other teams by moving caches, stealing clues, etc. Good sportsman ship is required! ALL MICROCACHES & CLUES MUST BE PUT BACK IN THE EXACT SPOT IN WHICH THEY WERE FOUND!  Teams are not allowed to ask volunteers or other teams for help or hints. If you are “lost” or need help with a question, see the event coordinator.  When you are done with all 8 quests, team envelopes (with all the Quest Cards and your team worksheet) must be turned in to the event coordinator in order for the clock to “stop”. A 15-minute penalty will be added for each quest your team does not complete and/or each card that is not turned in will be added to your final time. A 5 minute penalty will be added for Quest Cards that are not completely filled in.

7. Earth Quest Tips • Check the lids on the microcaches to make sure you have the right one! The waypoint # is written on the top of the lid and the cache # is on the underside. Examples: If you are looking for waypoint #18, it will be listed as 018 on the receiver and will have 018 written on the top of the lid. If you are looking for the clue for #1-3, this should be written on the underside of the lid and on the slip inside. • Use your calculator to help you find the answers to each problem. If you find a microcache, but it is not the correct clue you are probably in the wrong spot! Recheck your answer and try again! • If a problem says to “add the digits in the number”, you need to find the sum of all the individual numbers in it. For example, to find the sum of the digits in the year “1940”, add 1 + 9 + 4 + 0 for a total of 14. • Keep the GPS unit flat in your hand to make sure you are getting good reception from the satellites and keep moving in order for the unit to “know” where you are located! • Remember that the GPS will get you close – within 9 feet – you will have to search the area to find the microcache. Try walking away from the area and back towards it to make sure you are in the right spot.

8. It’s time to pick teams … • What does your team need to do? • Grab a clipboard and your team envelope. Make sure you have a working calculator, a pencil, and a GPS unit. • Get out the Quest Card and determine your first waypoint. • Your team must use the information provided to find each of the caches, solve the problems, and then head to the challenge! • Once you have completed the challenge, you will receive another Quest Card to start your team on another route. You will NOT visit the same microcache twice! • Write whatever information you need on your worksheet and then put the microcaches back EXACTLY where you found them! Do not take the film canisters or clues with you!

9. It’s time for Earth Quest! Grab your materials! Grab a GPS unit! Meet at the flag pole and wait for final instructions!