1. G.P.S Alex Brashear Braundon Soper

2. Introduction Northwest Arkansas Community College has a forested area north of the school that has been used as a living laboratory. The area is a primary source of laboratory experiences for Plant Biology, Environmental Science, Environmental Geology, Intro to GIS as well as many other science courses. As part of the phase III expansion and reclamation projects, a learning community of science students collected GPS coordinates in the area over the Fall 2008 semester.

3. Overview Students in the Environmental Geology course collected GPS coordinates in the Learning Laboratory. Data collected was combined with soil, plant and geospatial data to generate an interactive map using GIS applications. Students from Environmental Geology, Plant Biology and Introduction to GIS collaborated to produce a final map showing all data collected from the area.

4. Objectives Through EAST/EMPACTS (Educationally-Managed Projects Advancing Curriculum, Technology and Service) our objective was to get an understanding of what GPS is and collect and map out GPS coordinates for future use.

5. Community Using GPS in the community helps inject a level of awareness of the surrounding locations and habitats that could be greatly affected by disruption.

6. Curriculum The course objective was followed by teaching us how to use our hands on experiences with the GPS technologies and out of classroom experiences as a learning tool to accomplish our pre-existing goals and class obligations.

7. Technology We used GPS handheld receivers to collect data points. We used Google Earth to map out points We used Microsoft Excel to record data on spreadsheets.

8. Skills Developed Team- Effective teamwork Individual- How to work proficiently in a restricted amount of time. Technology- Learning how to use GPS handheld devices and the programs used to map them. Communication- How to speak effectively with partners and instructors. Organizational- How to keep on task and focused through a lengthy process.

9. Methodology We went on Google Earth map out locations that we would collect data from. Copied to word and printed a map. Using the map we located the areas and collected the data using the handheld device. We used Microsoft Excel to calculate the points onto a spreadsheet.

10. Project Results LatitudeLongitudeConversionLatitudeLongitude GPS136°21'37.43"N94°10'26.92"W36.36039794.174144 GPS236°21'44.48"N94°10'27.21"W36.36235694.174225 GPS336°21'46.85"N94°10'21.63"W36.36301494.172675 GPS436°21'42.16"N94°10'16.47"W36.36171194.171242 GPS536°21'34.69"N94°10'12.51"W36.35963694.170142

11. Future Project Ideas A future group could expand on our research by using it for research projects for other classes. To combine it with soil samples taken to create a location of flower beds.

12. Acknowledgements Albrecht, Sarah Luedecke, Brian Beal, Andrew Martinez, Bernardo Brashear, Alexander Parrish, Levi Cooley, Christine Phillips, Capitola Cooper, Mitchell Soper, Braundon Eiler, Christopher Walker, Natasha Herbert, Lauren Yeakley, John Lowe, Daniel

13. Appendices http://gps.gov/ (gps) http://www.arkansashighways.com/Info/Answers/answers.htm?Recor d_Number=83#Where%20can%20I%20obtain%20information%20reg arding%20upcoming%20highway%20construction mailto:info@arkansashighways.commailto:info@arkansashighways.com (Concerns about NWACC road construction) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6i8Lb9MnYhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_6i8Lb9MnY (GPS- GARMIN HANDHELD INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO) http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.htmlhttp://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.html (GPS- CONVERSION) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEpqGlIY04s&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEpqGlIY04s&feature=related (Google earth- plotting latitude and longitude points)