Project 9 of Investigating Your World with My World GIS • www.natgeoed.org/MyWorldGIS

Guiding QuestionHow does the mapping of a cemetery allow one to discover burial patterns?

Project Duration Two or three 45-minute class periods

Grade Level Grades 6-12 (ages 11-18)

Learning ObjectivesStudents will be able to: •investigatetheroleoffieldworkin

the development of GIS data sets•visualizepossiblepatternsofhuman

activity•experimentwithcurrenttechnologyas

a mapping tool•collectandimportGPSdatainto

My World

Subjects•Geography•History

GPS to GIS What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?

By Steven Branting

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GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Teacher Instructions • Page 166

TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS

How does the mapping of a cemetery allow one to discover burial patterns?

Activity OverviewEvery community has intriguing historical mysteries worthy of student investigation. National Center for History in the Schools states that nothing “more powerfullyinitiateshistoricalthinkingthanthoseissues,pastandpresent,thatchallengestudentstoenterknowledgeablyintothehistoricalrecordandtobringsound historical perspectives to bear in the analysis of a problem.” This project allows students to collect and use local data from ground observations and satellites and to createandusetheirowndatasetsofGPSwaypoints.Asafinalstep,studentslearnhowtocategorizetheirfielddata to display the burial patterns in their community’s cemetery during a period of history of their choice.

Connections to National Standards NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS • Standard3:Howtoanalyzethespatialorganizationof

people,places,andenvironmentsonEarth’ssurface• Standard17:HowtoApplyGeographytoInterpretthe

Past

NATIONAL HISTORY STANDARDS • Standard4:HistoricalResearchCapabilities

Vocabulary• spatial, adjective—having to do with location and

placement.• waypoint, noun—asetofGPScoordinatesusedfor

navigation.• attribute, noun—non-spatial information about a

geographicfeatureinaGIS,usuallystoredinatable.example:thenameonatombstone.

• metadata, noun—dataaboutdata;describesanddocumentsitssubjectmatter,forexample:how,when,where,andbywhomthedatawascollected

Teaching NotesBeforethelesson,checkyourequipmentandbecomefamiliar with how it operates. Test the uploading process foryourGPSunitspriortostartingthislesson.Ifyourcomputerhasaserialport,useCOM1.IfyouareuploadingusingaUSBcableadapter,mostcomputersuseCOM4.

MyWorldGISusesGPSdataindecimaldegrees.YoucancheckyourGPSunitsbyopeningtheSETUPfunctionandsetting the UNITS to hddd.ddddd. The format allows the datatoimportedinspreadsheets,whichcanalsobeusedformathematicsactivitiesonmean,median,andmode.

FamiliarizeyourselfwiththeStudentActivitySheetandcompletetheintroductoryGPSactivities.Studentsworkwellingroupsof2-3whenmasteringGPSusageskills.

Engage the students in a discussion about cemetery layoutandplanning.Solicitpriorknowledgeaboutcemeteriesandhowtheyareorganized.Askstudentstodrawadiagramshowinghowtheythinkacemeteryisorganized.Sample Classroom questions: • Whatfactorsshouldbeconsideredwhendeciding

whatyearswillbracketthefielddatagatheringinvestigations?

By Steven Branting

GPS to GIS What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Teacher Instructions • Page 167

• Whydon’tcemeteriesburyindividualsinasequentialmanner,plot-by-plotinarow,asdeathsoccur?

Help students to design their own class data recording form to be used when they visit the local cemetery. Show them a photograph of a sample headstone and what informationwillneedtoberecordedbyafieldresearcher.Possibleattributesmightbelocation(lat/long),name,dateofbirth,dateofdeath,epitaph,stonestyle,conditionofstone,relatedfamilynearby,etc.Thedatacategories they choose to use will be added later to the layerofGPSwaypointsthataredisplayed.

Providestudentswithamapofthecemeterythatyouwillbevisiting.Whilemanycemeterieshavethese,youmayneedtocreateanewmap.Ifyourcemeteryislarge,you may need to limit the area to be studied. If a short historyofthecemeteryisavailable,youmaywanttoshareit with students.

Provideportablewritingboardsornotebooksforstudentuseinthefield.

IfyouhaveanolderversionofMyWorld,youmayseeanerror message when you try to edit the attribute table for the points. This can only be resolved by installing My World 5.0.1 or later.

Thereisnodatadictionaryforthisproject.Asstudentscollectuniquedataandbuildaprojectfile,teachersmaywant to have students record metadata and create a data dictionary.

Extending the Learning• ContactyourcityorcountyGISoffices,whichwillhave

a wide variety of local and current data sets. This data willallowstudentstocreateacontextforthespatialpatternofwaypointsfromtheirfieldexercise.While,asnotedabove,thesedatasetsarenotnecessaryforthislesson,localdatasetsarethemostaccurateforyourparticular location.

• AstudentmightalsotestthereliabilityofaGPSunitbymarkingthesamelocation50-100timesatvarioustimesofthedaytotakeadvantageofthechangeinthesatellite constellation. Uploading these points into a MyWorldlayerofthetown’sroadnetworkwillproduceawaypointscatter.ThestudentwilldiscoverthattheGPSunit does not plot the same point but calculates within “accuracyrange,”whichcanbedrawnasacirclearound the data points. Mathematics students may wish to transfer the pattern of the waypoints to a scatter plot onanX-Ygrid.

• Thedistributionofanynumberofitemscanbediscoveredusingthetechniquesinthislesson.Groupsofstudentscoulddeterminethepatternofaspecificspeciesoftree,recordingtheapparentageofthetreeforinsertionintothedataset.Otherdistributioninvestigationscouldbestrayanimals,litter,homesbuiltduringaselectedperiodorinaspecificstyle(e.g.,QueenAnne,Craftsman,Victorian),orsignsfoundonschool property.

Additional Resources• Branting,Steven.“NotYourFather’sHistoryLesson.”

Western Historical Quarterly.LoganUT:WesternHistoricalAssociation.XXXVIII,2,pp.205-213,2007.

• “ResurrectingaPioneerCemetery.”Idaho Yesterdays. BoiseID:IdahoStateHistoricalSociety.Volume4.Number1,pp.28-45,2006.

• “OverviewofStandardsinHistoricalThinking,”NationalCenterforHistoryintheSchools.LosAngeles:University of California.

TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Instructions • Page 168

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS

InthisMyWorldGISandGPSactivity,youwillcollect and use local data from ground observations and satellites aswellcreateanduseyourownsetofGPSwaypoints.

AftercollectingandimportingGPSdataintoMyWorldGIS,youwillcategorizethefielddatatodisplaytheburialpatternsin a local community’s cemetery during a period of history of your choice.

Use your student answer sheet to record data and answers for thequestionsbelow.

Part I: Test the accuracy of your GPS unit and the MARK function GETTING STARTED1.TurnyourGPSunitonandallowittoacquiresatellites.(Note:youneedtobeoutsideforthistowork.)

2.Inthechartonyourstudentanswersheet,recordthedateandyourlocaltime.

3. Write down the coordinates and elevation in the area on your student answer sheet.

4. MARKthesitewiththeGPSunitandplaceaphysicalmarkerofsomesort(i.e.,flag,rock,orpencil)onthegroundatthe spot you are standing.

5. Repeatsteps1-3every three minutesuntilyouhavefivesetsofdata.Usethebuilt-inclockinyourGPSunittotelltime.

6.Calculatethearithmeticmean,oraverage,ofthelatitude,longitude,andelevation.Answerthequestionsaboutyourdata.

QUESTION 1. Whichcolumn(lat,long,orelevation)hadtheworstaccuracy? QUESTION 2. Whydoyouthinkthenumberschanged?

Part II: Design your own InvestigationNowthatyouhaveasenseofhowtheGPSworksandhowaccurateyourcollecteddatawillbe,youwilldesignageospatialinvestigationtocarryoutatyourlocalcemetery.Considerthefollowingquestionswhendesigningyourcemeteryinvestigation. • Whatfactorsshouldbeconsideredwhendecidingwhatyears(starting,ending)youwillusetoforyourdatagathering

investigations? • Whydon’tcemeteriesburyindividualsinasequentialmanner,plot-by-plotinarow,asdeathsoccur?• Whatpatternsmightemergeasyougatherlocationdataandmapit?

By Steven Branting

GPS to GIS What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?

How does the mapping of a cemetery allow one to discover burial patterns?

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Instructions • Page 169

1.Outlineyourdatacollectionplan;whatdatawillyourecordatthecemetery?Makealistofdatatocollect,anddraftatentative data table on your student answer sheet.

2. Planandassignteammemberrolesforthefieldtrip.Listtasks,andreviewequipmentneeded.

3. Afterthetriptothecemetery,returntoyourcomputer,launchMyWorld,andimportthedata.• TurnonyourGPSunitandconnectittoyourcomputer,withaserialcord.• WiththeGPSconnectedtothecomputer,chooseFile > Import DatafromGPSDevice.• Adialogboxwillopenshowingyoutheconnections;checktheyarecorrect,andclickGo. • MyWorldwilldownloadthepoints,createalayer,andputitonthemap.

4. Choose Layer > Save Layer As…tosaveyourfile.Saveittothedesktoporyourprojectsfolderdependingonyourteacher’s instructions.

5. Choose Layer > Start Editing Layertoopentheeditingwindow.Intheeditingwindowyoucanaddfieldstoyourtabletoincludetheadditionalattributedatayourecorded,suchasname,date,orplotnumber.Whenyouhavefinishedediting,choose Layer > Stop Editing Layer, to return to your map.

6. Edit the layer’s appearance and add other layers to your map as needed to continue your investigation.

STUDENT INSTRUCTIONS

STUDENT ANSWER SHEETS

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Answer Sheets • Page 170

Answerthequestionsfromyourstudenthandoutinthespacesbelow.

Part I: Test the accuracy of your GPS unit and the MARK function GETTING STARTED

1.Whichcolumn(lat,long,orelevation)hadtheworstaccuracy? ________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

2.Whydoyouthinkthenumberschanged? ___________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Name __________________________________________ Date ______________________________

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?

Date and Time

Latitude Longitude Elevation

ddd.dddd N/S ddd.dddd E/W feet

position 1

2

3

4

5

Average

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Answer Sheets • Page 171

Name __________________________________________ Date ______________________________

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?Part II: Design your own investigation

1.Outlineyourdatacollectionplan.Whatdatawillyourecordatthecemetery?Drawoutyourtentative data table below. Be sure to include columns for both the spatial and the attribute data.

2.Planandassignteammemberrolesandtasksforthefieldtrip.Listequipmentneeded.

STUDENT ANSWER SHEETS

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Answer Sheets • Page 172

Answerthequestionsfromyourstudenthandoutinthespacesbelow.

Part I: Test the accuracy of your GPS unit and the MARK function GETTING STARTED

1.Whichcolumn(lat,long,orelevation)hadtheworstaccuracy? ________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

2.Whydoyouthinkthenumberschanged? ___________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

Name __________________________________________ Date ______________________________

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?

Date and Time

Latitude Longitude Elevation

ddd.dddd N/S ddd.dddd E/W feet

position 1

2

3

4

5

Average

Elevation generally is the most

variable (least accurate.)

Answerswillvary.Dependingonthenumberofsatellites

availableandtheviewofthesky,therecanbealargevariabilityinthedata.

ANSWER KEY

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery? • Student Answer Sheets • Page 173

Name __________________________________________ Date ______________________________

GPS to GIS: What’s So Spatial About the Cemetery?Part II: Design your own investigation

1.Outlineyourdatacollectionplan.Whatdatawillyourecordatthecemetery?Drawoutyourtentative data table below. Be sure to include columns for both the spatial and the attribute data.

2.Planandassignteammemberrolesandtasksforthefieldtrip.Listequipmentneeded.

Possiblecolumnheadsforthechartsmightbelocation(lat/long),name,dateofbirth,dateofdeath,epitaph,stonestyle,conditionofstone,relatedfamilynearby,etc.

ANSWER KEY