WKBT La Crosse, WI-NewsChannel 8-Teachers Team Up to Use GPS Devices in the Classroom

Reported by Lara Reed

Teachers Team Up to Use GPS Devices in the Classroom

If you're lost on a road trip you might turn to your GPS to help you find your way.

But the mapping devices can actually be used to help teach about climate control, global warming and air temperature.

UW-La Crosse and the La Crosse School District have teamed up as part of a grant from the National Science Foundation to bring GPS and GIS technology into the classroom.

These 10 teachers are learning how to use a GPS to collect data, then import that data into a mapping program and from there draw conclusions as to what the data indicates.

These are all things they'll be able to take back to the classroom and use in a variety of science applications.

UW-L Department of Geography Professor Cynthia Berlin says, "The students can see, in much more real time they can actually get their hands on data, map that data and try to integrate it and bring some understanding."

The teachers in the workshop say the program is a great way to bring new uses of technology into the classroom and keep up with their students.

Central High School Science Teacher Chad Wilkinson says, "Students are just so technology driven these days that its just something that can appeal to them and hopeful spark some interest."

The grant provided enough money for each teacher in the workshop to not only have a GPS to use but also an I-Phone, which is also used in the mapping process.

The group is planning on applying for more grant money from the National Science Foundation to purchase the needed equipment to spread the program out through the district.

Organizers say the goal is to have each of the 10 teachers in the workshop show 10 other teachers how to use the GPS and mapping system so that close to 100 teachers in the area can bring this technology into the classroom.