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This page outlines the role of mobile technologies such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Social Interaction Software (SIS) in environmental education; offers creative strategies and possibilities for integrating GPS and SIS technologies into energy, agriculture, construction, architecture, seismology, textile industry, and medicine; and showcases the use of cell phones and GPS devices for collecting, analyzing, sorting and presenting data. The paper explores the wide range of meanings associated with experiential project based environmental education activities; the impact of informational and telecommunication technologies in developing sustainable multicultural and multilingual projects that save energy; the ways in which participants integrated math, maps and media into their projects; and how they gained alternative points of view on environment and renewed interest and commitment to community service and global understanding.

Introduction

Recent advances in global positioning systems (GPS) technology have impacted in each field especially in environment. Since 1990s, the principal tools available for instruction involving field mapping and navigation have been the topographic map and magnetic compass. A map and compass are not suitable for precision mapping and can be difficult to use when landmarks are not identifiable. New technologies and software such as 6-channel GeoExplorer receivers, Trimble Pathfinder Plus receivers with external antennas., and a 12-channel Trimble Pathfinder Community Basestation provide better accuracy but less portability and requires specialized training and considerable set-up time. Trends in the need for information, especially spatial information, have also fueled the demand for a fast and reliable method to determine Earth coordinates in the field.

The recent updates on the global positioning system (GPS) and increased availability and affordability of GPS receivers have introduced exciting tools for instructional programs that emphasize field data collection. Unfortunately, many educators may not be aware of the potential benefits that GPS can provide in improving methods for field data collection. In this page, we will provide an overview of GPS technology and includes some illustrations of how we have GPS introduced in different fields and exercises in the higher education curriculum.

GPS is a satellite-based system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to simplify and improve military and civilian navigation and positioning anywhere on earth. [1] Testing of the first GPS satellite began in the 1970s, with the system becoming fully operational in the early 1990s.GPS is composed of three parts. The Space component is made up of 24 satellites circling the Earth at a distance of approximately 10,900 nautical miles. [2] Each satellite travels along one of six orbital planes and makes a complete orbit in slightly less than 12 hours. GPS satellites send a continuous stream of radio signals to Earth containing information about orbit, equipment status and the exact time.The Control component includes five monitoring stations located throughout the world and a Master Control Station (MCS) at Falcon Air Force Base in Colorado. Information processed at the MCS is sent to monitoring stations, where satellite clock and orbital corrections can be made via ground antennas.

The User component is comprised of a hand-held receiver that processes satellite information to determine a user's position and velocity. Equipped with a GPS receiver, it is possible to navigate or collect positions while stationary or moving and while located on the ground, in the air or over water.

The basic principle used by GPS to determine Earth positions is relatively simple. Extremely precise clocks and the principle of triangulation are applied to measuring distances between a user and a combination of three or more satellites based on the time needed for the radio signal from each satellite to reach the hand-held receiver.Several factors affect the accuracy obtainable with civilian GPS receivers. U.S. military concerns over the risks of GPS being used by hostile forces prompted the DoD to reduce the accuracy of positions that can be obtained by civilian receivers. This intentional error, known as "selective availability" or SA, degrades positions reported by civilian receivers, causing the positions reported to deviate up to 100 meters from the receiver's location.

GPS receivers are also becoming more affordable. In the mid-1980s, a typical civilian receiver cost between $20,000 and $120,000. [3] But in just the last few years, the price of GPS receivers has fallen dramatically. Personal GPS receivers today can be purchased for as little as $200, depending on precision and features needed. Receiver size is also shrinking, with some measuring only slightly larger than a pack of cigarettes.

In addition to its military uses, GPS has become a tool for civilian applications ranging from land surveying to ocean and aircraft navigation. The range of potential applications for GPS is limited only by a user's imagination.For example, trucking companies and overnight package-delivery services have discovered the advantages of using GPS to locate and track trucks to improve their deliveries. Civil authorities responding to natural disasters now use GPS to locate flammable liquid or gas in underground pipelines and storage tanks. In an application to which everyone can relate, once expensive and time-consuming highway maintenance surveys are made more efficient. A van equipped with a roadsensor and GPS receiver can log the positions of potholes, cracks or other irregularities in a road's surface. This data can later be displayed in a mapped form to assist highway crews.

GPS has seemingly endless applications: seismologists and geologists use it for mapping the movement of the Earth's crustal plates or fault lines; surveyors are using high-precision GPS equipment to establish survey monuments in less time and with smaller crews; and foresters map tree stands and identify the location of endangered species habitat with it.

Despite GPS' utility to improve the efficiency of field-data collection, instruction in the use of GPS is not widely available at the college level.

For example, trucking companies and overnight package-delivery services have discovered the advantages of using GPS to locate and track trucks to improve their deliveries. Civil authorities responding to natural disasters now use GPS to locate flammable liquid or gas in underground pipelines and storage tanks. In an application to which everyone can relate, once expensive and time-consuming highway maintenance surveys are made more efficient. A van equipped with a roadsensor and GPS receiver can log the positions of potholes, cracks or other irregularities in a road's surface. This data can later be displayed in a mapped form to assist highway crews.

Despite GPS' utility to improve the efficiency of field-data collection, instruction in the use of GPS is not widely available at the college level. Instructors in the Geography and Forestry Departments are now working to address this issue for students at Oklahoma State University.

GPS needs to be integrated into the interdisciplinary approach to each curricula in the higher education [4] classes as well as the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). [5] Exercises designed for each course are presented as stand-alone modules so that students taking only one geography course are provided with necessary theory and other background material. Lectures provide an opportunity for instructors to explain GPS theory and to discuss applications; labs provide students with "hands-on" field experiences. Instructors coordinate the content of exercises so that activities have minimal overlap with other courses. This enables a student who might have gained exposure to GPS in another, course to learn something new.

GPS Hands-on Activities such as Geocaching [6]:

1) Groups of students can be provided with a brief demonstration of a GPS receiver and are then given a team assignment to determine longitude/latitude coordinates for several campus locations. The emphasis is on helping students to visualize latitude and longitude as forming an invisible grid on the landscape that can be used to record any object's location. Students take turns operating the receiver while completing a series of tasks to determine the coordinates for manhole covers, light poles and street corners on campus. In addition, they must plot the sky location (height, azimuth) of the satellites used to determine positions.

2) Teams of three to four students in the Field Techniques course use GPS receivers to record the location of commercial establishments during a walking survey of a small town. In addition to providing latitude/longitude coordinates, the GeoExplorer receivers permit students to code information about features of interest. For example, the type of commercial establishment and its street address can be tied to each location by entering it on the receiver's keypad.Students are also taught to use the GeoExplorer in navigation mode. Receivers are set in advance with coordinates that students must find. The unit provides students with commands to turn left or right as they walk and updates their speed of movement and distance from the target location.

3) The emphasis for students in Computer Mapping is to use GPS for precision spatial data collection. Therefore, student teams learn how to use "mission planning" software that enables them to determine optimal times for data collection in the field. Mission planning software facilitates creation of diagrams showing when satellite availability and geometry will yield the lowest horizontal or vertical error in positions reported. Following fieldwork, student teams then integrate GPS data with existing digital data from a U.S. Geological Survey digital map containing, among other things, streets, roads, highways, parks and hydrologic features.

4) Students enrolled in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) collect GPS data to create a "layer" of geographic information for their term project, GPS gathers geographic information not available through other sources.As an example, one student in GIS used a GPS receiver to identify the location of bank cash machines within the city of Stillwater. Using GIS mapping, the student was then able to combine this information with population data to create a map showing areas with large populations that are currently under-served by automatic teller machines.

In addition to forest measurement techniques, students are also shown how GPS methods can be used to collect non-commodity data about watershed boundaries, wildlife, recreation and aesthetic values. [7]While it is not possible to describe all potential ways in which GPS could improve instruction in other disciplines, a few examples help illustrate the breadth of possibilities.

Archeology: Of considerable concern to archaeologists are the architectural features of sites, and the precise and relative location of artifacts and other cultural remains. GPS can be used to map these features within archaeological sites and can help document the location of newly encountered small occupation sites in isolated areas.

Geology: GPS benefits geology because of the inherently spatial nature of the science. Surface mapping of rock types, structural features and geomorphological phenomena can proceed rapidly when geologists use GPS. This technology can also be dove-tailed to other methodologies in watershed studies.

Wildlife Science: This discipline can benefit from GPS in several ways. With faculty guidance, students can use GPS to document the location of wildlife features such as habitats, ranges, breeding and feeding sites, dens and nests, and animal trails. Rapid mapping of such features facilitates responsive wildlife protection and can be used to create regional databases for large-scale management activities.

To sustain the Earth's environment while balancing human needs requires better decision making with more up-to-date information. Gathering accurate and timely information has been one of the greatest challenges facing both government and private organizations that must make these decisions. The Global Positioning System (GPS) helps to address that need. Data collection systems provide decision makers with descriptive information and accurate positional data. [8]

Social Interaction Technologies and Collaboration Software have been changing the way we experience our world. New technologies such as GPS devices are no longer the for the corporation and communication professionals. From developing and showcasing maps (google maps) to co-writing books (wikibooks), collecting data (GPS device) to co-creating interactive maps (communitywalk), new technologies is increasingly being used in every field. SIS provides space for its participants to co-construct meaning using multilingual (Google Translator) and multimedia (slideshare) tools. The usage of social interaction software develops opportunities and supports “Open Learning” practices and processes, and promotes exchanges, connections, and collaboration among people who share common ideas and interests. Participants are bricoleur [9] where they are the author as well as the cast, collector, and the director of their projects. In this participatory culture, content of the knowledge is co-constructed and shared by the participants.

With the advent of new handheld devices such as GPS devices in our cell phones, there will be an expanded access to alternative resources and global connections. Suter, Alexander, and Kaplan [10] summarized the notion of social interaction software “as a tool (for augmenting human social and collaborative abilities), as a medium (for facilitating social connection and information interchange), and as an ecology (for enabling a 'system of people, practices, values, and technologies in a particular local environment')."

Some recent research [11] has discovered that by using a GPS device have a positive effect on the environment as opposed to not using one at all. Drivers who use navigation devices in their car will spend less time on average driving and they will also tend to drive shorter distances. The positive effect of this is reducing CO2 emissions.

For instance, since Fall 2007, a research was implemented by University College London's Ancient Merv Project (AMP) at the Silk Road cities of Merv, Turkmenistan. AMP's research brought some of the latest digital technologies, 3D laser scanning, digital photography and GPS survey equipment to Merv to conduct a high definition documentation (HDD) and digital preservation project. The project served to create a foundation data set for future erosion monitoring and to research the benefits of using HDD technologies at other sites around the world. [12]

Although students can gain a conceptual understanding of Earth coordinate systems through instruction involving diagrams and globes, there is no substitute for an outdoor experience in teaching field mapping and navigation. Such training is essential for students interested in careers involving data collection in the field, such as forestry, oil exploration, land-use planning or farm management. [13]

Conclusion

GPS potentially benefits instructional programs in a wide range of disciplines and at many educational levels. Already, GPS equipment is within the budget range of most college and university programs; especially if departments pool resources and cooperate in acquisitions and maintenance of this surprisingly useful educational tool. Further, the declining cost of GPS will eventually place equipment within range of many secondary educational budgets.

In addition to those disciplines in which GPS instruction has already taken firm hold -- surveying, geography and forestry -- we suggest that the relatively quick and accurate positioning capabilities of GPS could improve field instruction in other disciplines: agronomy, hydrology, range management, transportation planning, urban and regional planning, resource management, landscape design and industrial arts.

In conclusion, GPS is an excellent instrument sorting, collecting, analyzing and presenting data for the developing a city map and measuring large displacements near earthquake ruptures [14] to public safety, from recreational use finding a right location to the development and implementation of precision agriculture [15] or site-specific farming [16] has been made possible by the new technologies such as GPS devices. The presentation provides a bibliography and outlines online resources [17] and projects [18].

References

[1] Trimble Navigation (1989), A Guide to the Next Utility, Sunnyvale, CA: Trimble Navigation.

[2] Leick, A. (1995), GPS Satellite Surveying, New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

[3] Bossier, J. & Challstrom, C. (1995), GPS Instrumentation and Federal Policy Proceedings: First Symposium on Precision Positioning with the GlobalPositioning System, Rockville, MD. April 15-19.

[4] GPS Education Resource. http://www.gpseducationresource.com/

[5] Wikle, T. & Lambert, D. "The Global Positioning System and its Integration into College Geography Curricula," Journal of Geography.

[6] Geocaching- real-world outdoor experience and education http://www.geocaching.com/

[7] Boucher, B. & Oderwald, R. (1994), Global Positioning and Forest Inventory, The Compiler, 12(2), pp.23-26.

[8] GPS.GOV. U.S. Government information about the

Global Positioning System (GPS) and related topics http://www.gps.gov/applications/environment/

[9] Lévi-Strauss, C. (1998). The savage mind. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

[10] Suter, V, Alexander, B. & Kaplan, P. (2005). Social software and the future of conferences— Right now. EDUCAUSE Review, 40 (1).

[11] Green Tips. The Positive Environmental Effect of Using a GPS Device- http://greentipsforyou.com/the-positive-environmental-effect-of-using-a-gps-device/

[12] Barton, J. (2009). 3D laser scanning and the conservation of earthen architecture: a case study at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Merv, Turkmenistan. World Archaeology, 41(3), 489-504. doi:10.1080/00438240903112518

[13] Wikle, T. A., Gering, L. R., & Lambert, D. P. (1996). Global Positioning System Instruction in Higher Education. T H E Journal, 24(5), 71.

[14] Larson, K. M. (2009). GPS seismology. http://www.colorado.edu/engineering/GPS/Larson_Seismology2009.pdf

[15] GPS Applications in Crop Production- http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/ageng/gis/ae1264w.htm

[16] Maman, S. S., Orlovsky, L. L., Blumberg, D. G., Berliner, P. P., & Mamedov, B. B. (2011). A landcover change study of takyr surfaces in Turkmenistan. Journal Of Arid Environments, 75(9), 842-850. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2011.04.002

[17] Using GPS in Geoscience Education

http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gis/Using_GPS.html

[18] Educators Explore How to use GPS for Teaching

http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2010/10/20/01gps.h04.html

Activities:

- Geocaching- http://www.geocaching.com/

watch video

- Introduce- GPS- garmin geocaching-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbhkImL95pY

- Ted talk- http://www.ted.com/talks/todd_humphreys_how_to_fool_a_gps.html
- KWL Chart

Learn Your Coordinates:

http://geographyworldonline.com/tutorial/practice.html

- Ask directions at Campus Map.

How do you give directions?

Giving and asking directions exercise- http://www.englishexercises.org/makeagame/viewgame.asp?id=1434

* Historical Perth Amboy, NJ- Community Walk Project-

http://www.communitywalk.com/perth_amboy_nj/map/1314505

Google Lit Trip- http://www.googlelittrips.com/GoogleLit/Home.html

Guns, Germs and Steel-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel

Watch PBS- Part 1-

Episode 1: Geographic Luck

http://www.pbs.org/gunsgermssteel/educators/lesson1.html

Worldology-

http://www.worldology.com/

After the workshop, participants will be able to:

• find and access a collection of instructional, reference, and multimedia content;

• utilize National Geographic Education’s mapping portal and mapping technologies to explore data layers and create customized maps;

• utilize a suite of easy-to-use geospatial mapping tools to ask and analyze scientific questions;

• upload and geo-locate quantitative observation data, multimedia, and field notes to a shared web-based GIS platform;

• make local and global connections to scientific inquiries through a host of multimedia reference content, including current events, age-appropriate news articles, reference materials, and daily content;

• present multimedia in an engaging way, using features like full-screen mode, downloading available multimedia for educator or student “mash-ups” or presentations, and accessing content to engage learners with any photo, video, or map.

*identify the basic functions of the GPS receiver.

*demonstrate how to find, mark, and save waypoints using the GPS receiver.

*record and utilize data learned in the field and submit geo-located observation data and multimedia.

*identify problems/challenges and discuss solutions with their peers.

*synthesize what has been learned in order to construct Geocaching- GPS scavenger hunts.

*develop GPS based curriculum.

Utilizing GPS technology with today's learners covers the following NETS standards:

NETS-S

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

NETS-T

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity