Pinpointing Location with GPS Demonstration: How GPS Works (Part 2)
Shelley Olds (EarthScope Consortium), Daniel Zietlow (UNAVCO), & David Thesenga (Alexander Dawson School)
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Exemplary Teaching Collection
Resources in this top level collection a) must have scored Exemplary or Very Good in all five review categories, and must also rate as "Exemplary" in at least three of the five categories. The five categories included in the peer review process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see https://serc.carleton.edu/teachearth/activity_review.html.
- First Publication: February 27, 2022
- Reviewed: August 4, 2022 -- Reviewed by the On the Cutting Edge Activity Review Process
Summary
Using string, bubble gum, and a model of a GPS station, demonstrate how GPS work to pinpoint a location on Earth.
Precisely knowing a location on Earth is useful because our Earth's surface is constantly changing from earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tectonic plate motion, landslides, and more. Thus, scientists can use positions determined with GPS to study all these Earth processes.
Topics
Geospatial,
Geodesy Grade Level
Middle (6-8), High School (9-12), College Lower (13-14)
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Audience
A graphic showing the basic procedures of the Pinpointing Location with GPS demonstration. A more detailed version can be found in the writeup.
![[creative commons]](/images/creativecommons_16.png)
Provenance: Shelley Olds (UNAVCO)
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
This demonstration can be used as an extension to an introductory earth science course.
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
Students should have a general understanding of GPS.
How the activity is situated in the course
This demonstration can be used at any time in an earth science class, though is particularly useful when discussing how GPS works. This activity needs 5- 15minutes, depending on questions and extensions into an activity about GPS.
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity
- GPS satellites send a signal with important information that can be used by GPS receivers on the ground.
- How long a signal takes to reach a GPS receiver tells us distance between a satellite and GPS.
- Measuring position in this way is called trilateration.
- We need four satellites to find and pinpoint the precise position.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Interpret the intersection of spheres in 3-dimensions.
Other skills goals for this activity
Description and Teaching Materials
Teaching Notes and Tips
Assessment
A simple cartoon showing the relationship between GPS satellites and the Earth
Provenance: UNAVCO
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
An image of what a GPS station (monument) looks like as installed.
Provenance: UNAVCO
Reuse: This item is offered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ You may reuse this item for non-commercial purposes as long as you provide attribution and offer any derivative works under a similar license.
Students describe and sketch what have they learned from the demonstration.
The exercise includes sample questions the learner could answer. These can be used for formative assessment of understanding or they can be graded on a simple 2-point scale:
- 2 points = correct answer with thorough supporting evidence and/or complete description
- 1 point = answer not completely correct or lacking thorough supporting evidence or description
- 0 points = incorrect answer
References and Resources
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