New York State

Tier I
Learning Standards
Grade Level: Intermediate • GPS/Geocaching
• Data Collection
Math, Science and Technology
Standard 2: Information Systems • Basic Mapping
Key Idea 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.5) • Up to 30 Students
Key Idea 2 (2.1, 2.2)
Key Idea 3 (3.2, 3.3) • Location:
Standard 6: Interconnectedness, Common
Themes and Systems Thinking
4-H Camp
Key Idea 2 (2.1, 2.2, 2.3) • 4 hours
Key Idea 6 (6.2)
• $250
Career Development and Occupational
Studies
Standard 2: Integrated Learning
Key Idea 1 (1.3) Tier II
Standard 3a: Universal Foundation Skills (Must complete Tier I before taking Tier II)
Key Idea 1 (1.1)
Key Idea 2 (2.1)
Key Idea 5 (5.1) • GIS (digital)
Key Idea 6 (6.1)
Mapping Extension
Health, Physical Education, and Family and • Up to 30 Students
Consumer Sciences
Standard 2: A Safe and Healthy Environment • Location:
PE Key Idea 1 (1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4) Your School
• 2 hours
* For more information on the NYS Learning
Standards addressed in these programs,
• $250
please contact Jim Hooper at
jah249@cornell.edu or by phone at
4-H Camp Bristol Hills
585.394.3977 ext 407.
480 N. Main St.
Canandaigua, NY 14424
585.394.3977 ext 407
jah249@Cornell.edu
www.4-HCampBristolHills.org
Owned and operated by
Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ontario County
Why learn Geospatial
Science?
Geographic Information Systems
(GIS) can be used in educational,
governmental, commercial and
industrial fields. The scope of GIS
use in all these fields will only
increase over the next decade.
The U.S. Department of Labor has
identified GIS as a key emerging
and evolving industry with plenty of
opportunities as a career path. *
*Mapping out a GIS Career,
www.gis.com/careers/index.html
4-H Camp Bristol Hills is here to
help! We have created two new
programs designed to introduce your
students to Global Positioning Systems
(GPS) and Geographic Information
System (GIS) applications.
Tier I
In the Tier I program,
students are introduced
to the global
positioning system
(GPS).
They learn the different
components of the
system and how it all
works, and they get an
opportunity to use a
Garmin GPS receiver.
They learn to create,
This student found his first edit, and navigate to
geocache! specific locations
(waypoints), and then
go geocaching, an activity in which
students search for hidden treasure
boxes all throughout the camp.
For groups that choose not to
participate in the Tier II program, the
program will conclude in the camp’s
main lodge. Camp staff will work with
students to introduce GIS mapping
technology by generating a digital map
of the camp, showing the locations of
the geocaches that the students found.
Tier II
Using test kits, students check soil
samples for phosphorous, nitrogen and
potassium levels, and they mark their
location as a waypoint on their GPS
unit. As a class, they then generate a
hand-drawn map of their results.
The Tier II program continues the
mapping project back at school. This
phase should take place within one
week of participating in the Tier I
program. Camp staff will bring the
computer and software into your
classroom where the students will work
through the process of importing the
waypoint data from their GPS units,
along with the results of the soil study.
With this data, they will generate a
geospatially referenced GIS map of the
camp, and the soil patterns, allowing
them to see the value of a visual
representation of the data.

Groups that are planning to participate

in both Geospatial Science programs
will have a slightly shorter geocaching
experience before they begin a
scientific study of soil composition. See
Tier II.
Students testing soil samples for Nitrogen,
Phosphorous and Potassium.
Staff work with students to import data from the
field and create digital maps in the classroom.