Age of Navigation Teacher Resources

Students explore the concept of triangulation that is used in navigation satellites and global positioning systems designed by engineers. They determine ways these technologies can help people determine their position or the location of...

Your students' world will literally take shape in this presentation, which chronicles the growing edges of the (flat) earth during European Exploration of New Worlds. Dias, da Gama, Magellean, and Columbus are key players in this game of...

Students explore geography by completing a navigation activity in class. In this satellite positioning instructional activity, students define terms such as orbit, satellite, GPS and triangulation. Students view diagrams of the Earth's...

Discover the interesting world of maritime archaeology and explorations under the sea with this nice set of worksheets, which cover such topics as search tools and techniques of underwater archaeology, carbon dating, vessel types, and...

A fascinating short video describes how engineers somehow were able to flood the floor of the Colosseum and conduct maritime battles to amaze and impress spectators.

Students navigate the web to prepare for an imaginary trip and record expenses involved.  In this state culture and symbol lesson, students gather information to be used in a multimedia project.

Second graders use latitude and longitude coordinates to pinpoint an exact location on the map. In this geography lesson plan, 2nd graders utilize handouts from the Maritime Museum in order to gain practice in finding locations...

In two groups, students research the history and current building of clipper ships. In this inquiry lesson, students present information and compare and contrast the technological revolution with the development of clipper ships....

Upper graders become "shipwreck detectives" by studying the debris field from a shipwreck in the Aegean Sea which took place in the 700s.  A website is accessed that gives specific information about the debris field, and pairs of...

Get your junior oceanographers to generate tidal prediction graphs on an interactive website. They will feel like experts in the field, or shall we say, experts in the ocean! This is a brief, but worthwhile activity that could be used to...

Students explore trireme, a type of ancient Persian warship. They investigate other underwater recovery operations to shed light on the difficulties a trireme recovery team might face.

High schoolers discover what is needed to program an underwater robot to complete a course of action.  In this robot archaeologist instructional activity students design an archaeological strategy of an underwater vehicle. 

Students recreate a "60-minutes" interview using cue cards and historical information on the Chinese explorer Zheng He. This activity is an excellent introduction to World History during the 1400's.

Learners explore John Paul Jones. His sense of adventure brought him to America. His bravery made him the country's greatest naval hero.

Who maintains our maritime infrastructure? Step back to the 1920s and meet some of the men and boats of the U.S. Lighthouse Service while learning about the hundreds of aids to navigation in New York Harbor.

After the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy, questions were raised about how this could happen, and whether the ship had the best available electronic navigation system. The International Maritime Organization...

This site offers a great example of the importance of the sea in European life. Read about the Etruscans of Italy, their ports and navigation, maritime trade, and war at sea.

In the 15th century, a small kingdom with a population of approximately 1 million launched the era of maritime exploration that would transform the world. Portugal turned to the boundless Atlantic Ocean as its only outlet to the wider...

Conventions, treaties, and official papers, organized by title, country and year. The site also includes sections on memorials and reminiscences, a biographical dictionary, an image archive, the maritime war, the medical front, as well...

The true story of the the 1789 mutiny on the Bounty is far more complicated than suggested by film versions of the event, which have emphasized the gratuitous cruelty of the ship's captain, William Bligh. The psychological drama that...

This site provides information on mapmaking and cartograohy of the early explorers. Includes pictures of maps.

A map from 1902 of the Dominion of Canada, showing provinces, province capitals and major cities, railroads, canals, mountain systems, lakes, rivers, and coastal features. Symbols on the map indicate the head of navigable rivers (anchor...