GEOPA Project Update
Education Director, Elayne Achilles, and GEOPA Consultant, Alice Christie, have advanced the GEOPA Project in a number of ways. Each is briefly summarized below:
- Added an Interactive Google Map of all selected sites that:
- shows location
- gives name of artwork and artist/s and background information on each artwork
- provides driving directions to the artwork.
- Added a Site Map to the existing Web site
- Visited six of the site selected by the GEOPA Advisory and Selection Committee to learn more about and photograph each site.
- Wrote the GEOPA Case Statement (PDF) to send to perspective funding agencies.
- Developed curriculum around the three artworks featured in the pilot program:
- Conducted a pilot project in the Alhambra District and collected data from students and teachers that will guide us in making the GEOPA Project more engaging to participants.
Alhambra Pilot Project | Pictures from Day 1 | Pictures from Day 2
- Attended the ARTS ALIVE Festival in Alhambra and provided a geogacing experience for all interested participants. See photos from ARTS ALIVE.
- Purchased the GEOPAkids domain name so the GEOPA domain name can be used for the geocaching for Public Architecture Project.
- Explored GEOPA Web site development through inquiries with a design and branding firm in Phoenix and through a possible partnership with The Arts Institute of Phoenix. We will make a decision on which alternative best aligns with MPAC goals by June 1, 2008. We anticipate having the GEOPA for Kids Web Site operational and public by mid-August.
- Visited the Phoenix Zoo to access the applicability of the FunFinder GPS system used at the zoo.
- Explored opportunities to raise funds to support the GEOPA Project. Wrote an AT&T grant proposal, but it was unfunded.
Description | Alignment with MPAC Goals | GPS/Geocaching Resources
Curriculum Outline | Sample Lesson | Technology Requirements
Enhancements to MPAC Web Site | First Sites | AZ Public Art
AZ Arts Organizations | Public Arts Sites Across the US
NEW: GEOPA Pilot | Alhambra Arts Alive GEOPA Event | Site Map
NEWER: Google Map (Interactive Map of GEOPA Sites)
The GEOPA PROJECT: Finding a Sense of Place Through Public Art
The major goal of the GEOPA Project is to spark interest in public art in Metropolitan Phoenix through the use of a kid-friendly, family-oriented emerging technology. Since technology is an integral and growing part of daily living in the twenty-first century, the challenge is to use technology effectively to help young people of Arizona take ownership for learning and develop the practical and critical thinking skills necessary to better understand the world around them.
To meet this challenge, The GEOPA Project uses an emerging technology tool, GPS receivers, and an emerging GPS-based activity, geocaching, to create exciting, empowering, exploratory environments that focus on student engagement with public art in Metropolitan Phoenix.
The GEOPA Project and MPAC Goals
The GEOPA Project will help MPAC achieve the following goals:
- To increase arts and cultural experiences in the education of young people
- To develop creative and critical thinking abilities in young people
- To enhance participation in "arts and culture" activities for everyone in the region
- To develop and implement entrepreneurial partnerships that advance arts and culture
- To build regional distinction by promoting signature events and unique "arts and culture" experiences
GPS and Geocaching Resources
To find out more about the use of geocaching and GPS receivers, view my GPS and Geocaching Podcast or visit my GPS and Geocaching Guide for Educators.
GEOPA Project Curriculum Outline
Young people have increased opportunities to have the world at their fingertips by using global positioning systems (GPS) and participating in geocaching experiences. Using these tools and activities helps students develop curiosity about geography, science, mathematics, art, and the culture in which they live. GPS units and geocaching are multidisciplinary, inquiry-driven, field-based tools useful in engaging students in life-long learning and exploration.
Educators know that effective curriculum:
- Focuses on concrete, hands-on, personally-meaningful learning
- Uses primary sources of data to ensure authenticity and real-world complexity
- Requires problem-solving and higher-order thinking skills to develop deep understanding
- Creates real-world, context-rich environments
- Embeds learning in social experience
- Encourages ownership and voice in the learning process
- Represents the natural complexity of the real world
- Provides tools/environments that help learners understand multiple perspectives of the world
- Provides structures, supports, and tools for learners as they seek to control and mediate their own learning
The GEOPA Project Curriculum will incorporate the learning principles listed above and will include GPS receivers and geocaching activities for each of the major public art works in Metropolitan Phoenix. A sample lesson on public arts in Metropolitan Phoenix is provided below.
GEOPA Project Sample Lesson/Activity
Each lesson/activity, which will be written in English and Spanish, will include:
- Simple, graphic directions on using a GPS receiver
- A map of Metropolitan Phoenix with the general area of the public art highlighted OR driving directions from the GPS pick-up point to the general area of the public art
- A picture of the public art work that participants will find
- Some intriguing facts about the public art work to spark participants' interest
- The GPS coordinates of the public art work that participants will find
- A set of questions about the public art work that participants will answer after reaching the geocache
- A set of follow-up activities, games, puzzles, podcast, and/or Internet links that participants can complete/explore at a later date. Podcast example.
- Participating students could earn a sticker/prize/points toward a prize when completing a lesson/activity and earn "badges" or prizes after completing 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20 geocaching activities.
- Pilot Project
Sample Lesson: An Open Book
This artwork is inspired by the book as a physical object and as one of the principle tools associated with learning. It focuses on the letters of the alphabet as the primary building blocks of our language and learning system. This sculpture is composed of 28 translucent cast resin blocks in a grid-like pattern attached to the curved wall of the library’s meeting room. Each block (or page) contains natural and found objects which are related to the letter of the alphabet inscribed on each block.
Technology and Logistics Requirements
The GEOPA Project will require a set of GPS receivers. Participants (individuals or teachers) will "check-out" a GPS receiver (or set of GPS receivers) to complete each lesson/activity. GPS receivers might be housed across the Valley with various MPAC partners.
A partnership with an electronics firm that would provide GPS receivers is encouraged. The partnership could include a discount price for participants who become interested in geocaching and wish to purchase a GPS receiver themselves.
A log where participants can share information they've learned is encouraged. Blog example.
GEOPA Project Enhancements to the MPAC Web Site
- Arts for Youth: GEOPA Project Description | GEOPA Project Curriculum | GEOPA Blog
- Newsletter: Launch the GEOPA Project
- Publications: GEOPA Project Curriculum
- Venues: Additional Map with GEOPA Project Sites
- Store: GEOPA Project Curriculum | GEOPA Project T-Shirts, Visors, Posters, Stickers
Potential First "Bakers' Dozen" GEOPA Project Geocaching Sites
- Arizona Bolas (Civic Plaza, 3rd Street and Washington)
- Cave Creek Tower (Rose Mofford Sports Complex, 25th Avenue and Peoria)
- Cortez Arc (Cortez Park, 35th Avenue and Dunlap)
- Desert Passages (Lookout Mountain Park, 18th Street and Winchcomb)
- Hall of Mirrors ( Phoenix Theatre, 100 E. McDowell Road)
- Lighting Centerpiece (Phoenix Museum of History, 105 N. 5th Street)
- Nuestro Pueblo (Marivue Park, 55th Avenue and Osborn Road)
- Patrick Park Plaza (Southern Ave. and 30th Street)
- Peace (Eastlake Park Civil Rights Memorial, 16th Street and Jefferson)
- Phoenix: A Landscape in Time (Royal Palm School, 19th Avenue and Butler)
- SunCatchers (Arizona Science Center, 7th Street and Washington)
- Tracker (Granada Park, 20th Street and Maryland)
- Site 1 | Site 2 for WaterWorks at Arizona Falls
(G.R. Herberger Park, 56th Street and Indian School Road)
Web Sites of Public Art in Arizona
Web Sites of Arts Organizations in Arizona
Public Art Sites and Organizations Across the US
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Public Art Sites