Library of Congress
Loc: Everyday Mysteries: What Is Gps?
Where are you and where are you going? Visit this site and learn the discovery and purpose of GPS, Global Position Systems.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Global Positioning System Overview
A good overview of the Global Positioning System. Describes what it is, how it works, and goes into detail about its different applications.
NOAA
Noaa: National Ocean Service Education: Global Positioning Tutorial
Illustrated tutorial explains the history and science of geodesy. Animations help students visualize how scientists measure and monitor the size and shape of the Earth and the location of points on its surface.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution: Time and Navigation
Explore navigation methods by sea, air, and space, what latitude and longitude mean, how GPS works, about satellite navigation, and learn about professional navigators. Includes a timeline of developments in navigation from 1280 to the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: State Your Position
To navigate, you must know roughly where you stand relative to your designation, so you can head in the right direction. In locations where landmarks are not available to help navigate (in deserts, on seas), objects in the sky are the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: What's Wrong With the Coordinates at the North Pole?
Students complete a self-guided exercise in worksheet format combined with Google Earth that helps them explore practical and observable differences between different projection and coordinate systems. The activity improves their skills...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Searching for Bigfoot and Others Like Him
Cryptids, creatures of questionable existence, are used as a source of data to guide students into the creation of their own GIS data layer in Google Earth. The activity serves the purpose of a tutorial to teach students how to make data...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Plot Your Course Navigation
In this unit, students learn the very basics of navigation, including the different kinds of navigation and their purpose. The concepts of relative and absolute location, latitude, longitude and cardinal directions are discussed, as well...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: It's About Time
In past times, ocean navigators tossed a piece of wood over the side of their ships and noted how long until the ship passed the wood. They used this time measurement and the length of the ship to calculate their speed and estimate how...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Receiver Basics
Students familiarize themselves - through trial and error - with the basics of GPS receiver operation. They view a receiver's satellite visibility screen as they walk in various directions and monitor their progress on the receiver's...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Art
Students design their own logo or picture and use a handheld GPS receiver to map it out. They write out a word or graphic on a field or playground, walk the path, and log GPS data. The results display their "art" on their GPS receiver...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps Scavenger Hunt
Students go on a GPS scavenger hunt. They use GPS receivers to find designated waypoints and report back on what they found. They compute distances between waypoints based on the latitude and longitude, and compare with the distance the...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Find It!
In this activity students will learn the basic concept of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) using triangulation and measurement on a small scale in the classroom. Students discover how GPS and navigation integrate mathematic and...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Navigating at the Speed of Satellites
For thousands of years, navigators have looked to the sky for direction. Today, celestial navigation has simply switched from using natural objects to human-created satellites. A constellation of satellites, called the Global Positioning...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Gps on the Move
During a scavenger hunt and an art project, young scholars learn how to use a handheld GPS receiver for personal navigation. Teachers can request assistance from the Institute of Navigation to find nearby members with experience in using...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Where Am I: Navigation and Satellites
How do we know where we are? In this lesson, students explore the concept of triangulation that is used in navigation satellites and global positioning systems designed by engineers. Also, students learn how these technologies can help...
US Geological Survey
U.s. Geological Survey: Volcano Monitoring Using Global Position Systems
Learn how the U.S. Geological Survey uses global positioning systems (GPS) to monitor active volcanoes.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Attack of the Raging River
In this activity, the students will discover the relationship between an object's mass and the amount of space it takes up (its volume). The students will also learn about the concepts of displacement and density.