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Fifth Graders Treasure Hunt with Technology

Source/Author: Ms. Janack, Fifth Grade Social Sciences Teacher

October 09, 2015

Middle School News

Ms. Janack’s fifth grade geography class has been studying map skills. To hone the skills they learned, and to introduce their next surprise topic of study, they went treasure hunting.

Using GPS devices and a course set by Dr. Baralt, students were paired off for an on-campus geocaching experience. Geocaching is a location-based treasure hunting activity that uses longitude and latitude coordinates and a GPS. Geocachers may hide items for others to find - typically leaving clues on a website or an app, or can seek already hidden caches anywhere and everywhere! Geocaching is a great teaching tool for geography, technology and critical thinking.

The caches students found contained puzzles. When all the students returned to the classroom they gathered their treasures and found that the puzzles created flags. Students were charged with determining which country's flag they had. Little by little, the class realized that all the flags were from South American countries. South America will be the first continent the class studies in depth this year.

After taking part in the geocaching experience, Will E asked his mom if his family could go geocaching together. They found 2 geocaches near their house. He enjoyed teaching him mom about the process and using all the cypher clues to problem solve while treasure hunting. Here’s what some other classmates thought of the experience:

“Geocaching helped me understand by doing. I'm a "do it" person [hands-on learner], so it helped me understand all the vocabulary we've been learning.” Mariyah S

“It was great to do something that's done all over the world. It introduced me to an activity people do all over the world.” Mila S

“It helped me understand the vocabulary we've been learning. You can't always just follow the arrow. You have to problem solve and know your directions!” Lily L

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