Curated OER
Sextant Solutions
Learners explore ways a sextant can be a reliable tool that is still being used by today's navigators and how computers can help assure accuracy when measuring angles. This activity will show how computers can be used to understand...
Curated OER
Sextant Measurements
Students create a sextant. Using their sextant, students measure the height of tall objects. Students explore how sailors used sextants to identify their location on the ocean. They research how sextants are created.
Curated OER
Math of the Path: Students Calculate Data from the Lewis and Clark Journey
Students use calculations to complete the same journey of Lewis and Clark. They answer questions along their way and share information they gather with the class. They compare their calculations with those made by Lewis and Clark.
Curated OER
The Mathematical Dynamics of Celestial Navigation and Astronavigation
Students explore the different methods used in celestial Navigation and astronavigation. In this math instructional activity, students construct a sextant and demonstrate how it works.
Curated OER
How to be a Great Navigator!
Students examine historical methods of navigation. They discuss the techniques of "Dead Reckoning," "Heaving the Log," and "Chip Log," pretend to sail from Europe to North America using vectors and determine the location of their...
Curated OER
The Greatest Survival Story of All Time
Students use the Internet to read about an explorer's survival in the Antarctic. They try to find a better route for him to have taken.
Curated OER
Getting it Right!
Pupils investigate error. As shown in earlier activities from navigation lessons 1 through 3, without an understanding of how errors can affect position, one cannot navigate well. Students explore how computers can help in navigation. By...
Curated OER
Constellation Mapping
Students plot constellations on a grid map. They discuss the various ways early explorers planned their travels. Students identify and recognize major constellations. They color their maps and take them home to try to find various...
Curated OER
Navigation
High schoolers study the basic methods for finding one's position on Earth. Latitude can be deduced from the height above the horizon of the pole star or of the noontime Sun, while longitude requires an accurate clock giving universal time.