G P S

A WebQuest

prepared for the students at

Leestown Middle School

Introduction

What is GPS? It is the Global Positioning System and is quickly changing how we navigate our cars through town, backpack through wilderness regions, improve our luck with fishing, keep track of released prisoners, plan new towns, survey for new roads and subdivisions and many other uses still on the drawing board. First developed for military use only, it has just recently been declassified and made more accessible and usable by the general public. Pick any career and you will see how GPS will soon, if not already, be playing a part.

Task

In this assignment you will do an initial investigation of GPS and summarize what you learn. Eventually, you will use GPS units to complete a scavenger hunt and the results of your hunt will be the final assessment for this unit.

Process & Resources

At Trimble you will find the tutorial that will enable you to complete the Global Positioning System worksheet. There are two worksheets available for this tutorial: Intermediate and Advanced.

At NorthStar you can look at some of the latest technologies using GPS

At  GPS World you can read about a product you might be using in your job one day

At How Stuff Works you can view some nice diagrams that will further help you understand how GPS works.

At GPS for Fun you will find some interesting GPS products for work and for fun

At A GPS Mystery Story you may read a great Sherlock Holmes mystery that will help you understand GPS

At GLONASS you can compare the U.S. GPS to its Russian equivalent

Click on the Globe when you are ready to investigate Latitude and Longitude topics.

Evaluation

Conclusion

GPS opens up a world of possibilities. With some imagination and entrepreneurism, this could be your million dollar ticket!