21 Innovative Teaching Methods in the Earth Sciences (Posters)

Monday, 12 March 2007
1:00 PM - 4:45 PM

AN EARTHCACHED FIELD TRIP IN THE EASTERN CATSKILLS OF NEW YORK

Program: THEME SESSIONS
Time: 1:00 PM – 4:45 PM

Authors

Abstract

Each year the Advanced Physical Geology class at Fox Lane High Shcool in Bedford, New York travels to the Catskill Mountains of Eastern New York State. For two days the class explores and studies local geomorphology, local structural geology, glacial geology, and sedimentary processes evident in the regional outcrops of shale, sandstone, and conglomerate. This year students were given the option to either write a formal field trip report, or to create EarthCaches for each of the stops on the trip. The authors chose the EarthCache option. Doing so required that we become familiar with Geocaching and EarthCaching and learn to use a GPSr to determine position and set waypoints. We then had to write concise descriptions of the geologic significance of each stop, and develop an activity or question to be performed by visitors to our EarthCache. Our participation forced us to use new technology and to understand what we were seeing deeply enough to be able to teach it to others. A benefit to the broader geoscience community is that our field trip is now available to aspiring geologists, other geoscience classes, and the general puplic. It is our hope that our presentation inspires other teachers to do similar projects with their classes and that our EarthCaches serve as a model for the creation of more EarthCached field trips.