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Handheld GPS units help solve mysteries
July 07, 2007
Eight teens used handheld Global Positioning System units to solve mysteries and learn about literature Thursday afternoon
at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds.
The teens, involved in the Teen Café program at the North Platte Public
Library, searched for geocaches holding clues to match to books they discussed.
The teens used the GPS receivers
to locate 10 hidden caches. Each cache contained a clue to match a book they read or discussed during the Teen Café
program. Buttons were the clue that went with the book “Al Capone Does My Shirts”; a zip-lock bag containing cat
hair was the clue for “Hair, Clothing and Tire Track Evidence”; dog paw prints were the clue for the book “My
Brother’s Ghost”; a bag of stones was the clue that matched the book “Many Stones”; a bag of Ju Ju
Bees matched up to the book “So B It”; gummy worms matched up to “The Dark Pond”; tin buckets were
the clue for “The Mysterious Benedict Society”; butterfly stickers were the clue for “The Red Kayak”;
fingerprints matched up to “The Secret Service Agent”; and rubber ducks were the clue for “Tracking Trash.”
Cathy Weaver, North Platte-McPherson County Extension Assistant, who helped place all the geocaches for the event, said
it always amazes her how many different ways GPS units can be used.
“Geography generally comes to
mind,” she said. “I would never have thought of using them to help teach literature.”
Carol Eshleman,
young-adult librarian at the North Platte Public Library, heads up the Teen Café program.
“Teenagers tend
to learn better hands-on,” she said. “So we look for ways to help them learn that involve action. All the programs
are planned especially for teen interests and all are book-based.”
Teen Café meets every Thursday
at 4 p.m. The program is for youths in grades 6-12 who are ages 12-18.
Some of the programs over the past year
have included “How I Can Be A Better Me”; Chocolate Festival; art project with DeDe Hill; Pizza Pizzaz; Poetry
and Pizza; “All About Choices,” which focused on teen parenting, alcohol awareness, fetal alcohol syndrome and
addiction; Mother’s Day; and for the summer reading program in June and July – “You Never Know,” which
was about solving puzzles.
The group doesn’t meet in August. When the program resumes in September, the program
will focus on the “Railfest.”
During the summer reading program, the youths read eight books and do book
evaluations
Source: nptelegraph.com
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