Science and geocaching – making a start …
In our project, local teachers and students of the university were charged with designing some new kinds of caches. Our task was to design caches that would inspire the finder to engage in some form of inquiry in the setting where the cache was located and, by doing so to learn a bit about some scientific concept or process. In doing this, we hoped that geocaching could be made more responsive to the place in which caches are located whilst also enabling the geocachers to learn by doing in a fun and interesting way.
In this cache (pictured above), the cache was cleverly embedded in a very large and very rotten log. The finder was encouraged to go mini-beast hunting and to try to identify the critters with the inquiry tools provided. There was some basic i.d. information in there too in laminated form. Fun for all the family! There was also some information about how decomposers go about their work in the woods and a nudge to help us consider what we might do with all our own household waste. … so place-responsive science-based geocaching with a sustainability twist!
