Edumacaching (Education through Geocaching) - OBGCP33

The Oh Beep! Geocaching Podcast

This weeks discussion - what can we learn through Geocaching? Doctor D compliments Canada and Australia (we apologise in advance to our American listeners) Last Week..

Church Micro 5901 ... Osgathorpe A cache by GeoSandJLeo - GC56GDD

Missed the FTF by a matter of minutes. Saw the FTF hound as he was leaving the footpath.

Two great caches this week...

Hard Boiled Egg for Tea A cache by cerises and Team-Triplet - GC43CQN

The Old Railway A cache by Dan Rackham - GC2JX2N

You've heard us talk about them, now you can see us find a couple. LAB Caches in GeoPaulVloggers video, from the Kent Mega 2014.

http://youtu.be/8ooyKRB-4j4

The Puzzle Cache..

Final Destination (GC54F7G) for a while - nowhere near to solving this one. HELP!

Your Nemesis Geocache...

Dave DeBaeremaeker A simple tree hanging cache in the nearby town of Morganton NC. Its a 1/1, but I can't find it. I've looked for hours over 3 separate hunts. Each time people have found it just before and just after my failed hunts.I know its there, but I can't see it. If I ever find that cache I am going to punch it in the face for being so dang elusive.

Daryl Stocker A new one in Newark. Nettle Island. Put a dnf on it and will have to go back. It's only been found once. We went for stf. Cache hidden by Nick gilbey GC52C5G

Dumb Things Geocachers Do..

Ours this week, or rather last week, is getting lost on a simple hike to the Geocache. Here's the video...

The Hemlock Stone – Fact or Fiction (GC20EW1)

http://youtu.be/0wBdflAq2Qk

Ask Doctor D..

Hikerjamz asks..

Dr. D,

Here is my question.

I adopted 5 or so caches that I have never found. Now, if I go to find these caches can I log them as a find even though I now own them ?

News & Events..

Ascension by Gackt from Cotswold Caching | GC50RJB | 28/06/2014 | Southern England, United Kingdom

BBH Cake Race - Half Way Mark Event! by Dave's Piglings | GC55B3T | 29/06/2014 | Southern England, United Kingdom

Swanning around at Fradley Junction 6 by The Mighty Shark & Magwai | GC56423 | 04/07/2014 | West Midlands, United Kingdom

Summer Garden Party (very July the Fourth) by andytalliss | GC4YQR6 | 05/07/2014 | East Midlands, United Kingdom

The Boat Only Event #6 by Captain Panteras | GC531AX | 05/07/2014 |East Midlands, United Kingdom

Other News..

National Trails - www.nationaltrail.co.uk

Our annual geocaching weekend is fast approaching. We are looking for volunteers to help distribute some of our fantastic National Trail geocoins. We would like to release 1 coin a week for 10 weeks on each of the 15 National Trails in England and Wales, starting on the 12th July. We are also looking for people to create interesting geocaching trails on the Trails. Can you help ? Why not get in touch with [e-mail] to find out more.

25 Free Date Ideas That Don't Suck - www.stylecaster.com Geocaching made the list.

Not according to UK soap Doctors. The episode "Small Deaths" airs on 18th June at 1.45pm (GMT).

Annie surprises Howard with a day of geocaching in the hills, but the date doesn't go well when they spend most of their time bickering. clear, it's not been a great date.

Video of the Week..

Interesting "drainpipe" geocache.

http://youtu.be/KY4-JkHLyFs

Discussion..

A lot of learning can be gained from just being out and about. Feedback from Yorkshire Yellow on this:

For me, and bearing in mind the age of my older geokid (she's 7 on Sunday), the education aspect of our geocaching is either specific to a location where we might be doing our caching (eg a National Trust house, a WW2 site of some sort, or the old canals in this area), or general knowledge, such as bird, plant and tree types, introducing OS map reading to her (what some of the symbols mean), and other such flora, fauna and the natural environment.

I used to be a Scout leader in the various sections and could see caching and GPS skills being a good learning exercise for them, particularly the older sections. In fact, the Scout have caching/GPS as an option under their 'Navigator' badge.

You may also find this link useful when preparing your show - www.geocachingscouts.org.uk

Placing a cache and writing the cache description can be very educational. This may require learning the history of an area, then writing about it in the cache description - picking the relevant parts to the cache hide.

Creative writing skills - writing a great log, keeping a Geocaching diary or even a blog. See above.

Puzzle caches can help in a number of different ways -

• Good brain exercise and help develop problem solving skills
• Learning research skills - useful for school assignments

Physical education - climbing a tree, walking. Healthy body/healthy mind as they say.

Earthcaches are an obvious one to help teach children about an area, geology etc.

The artistic side - Designing geocaoins, TB's etc can help teach a number of artistic skills from drawing to composition.

Craft & design skills - Building unique cache containers can involve wood/metal/plastic work, materials selection (what works best and why, or what doesn't work and why). If you're really inventive you can teach basic electronics.

Tech skills - using the apps, computer software, GPSr

Media skills - vlogging, podcasting, photography

Social skills - events can be a great way to develop social skills. Events can also be used to hone organisational skills - remember Geo Oly who organised his own event?

Reading - there are several Geocaching related books out there. You can also find Geocaching related stories at sites like geocachebooks.com

The Random Bits..

Awesome facts about South Korea

We'd love to hear from you, how you can contribute:

[e-mail]

www.ohbeep.com/33 (you can leave a free audio message or leave a comment)

Here's some ways you can contribute to the show:

What's your Because of Geocaching story?

We're still looking for roving reporters (we had a great submission from 7 yr old Zac - hear him on episode 32 http://www.ohbeep.com/33)

What is your nemesis cache?

What dumb thing have you done whilst out Geocaching?

Oh and Doctor D loves quesions to answer in his Ask Doctor D section.