1. Navigation: Then and Now

2. Enduring Understanding
Explorers use navigation to get from one place to another.

3. Essential Questions: How do people get from one place to another?
What tools were used in the past for navigation?
What tools are used currently for navigation?

4. Brainstorm Pause Video
Brainstorm ways that people travel from one place to another today as compared to the past.
Restart Video

5. Tools of Ancient Navigation
Maps
Compass
Hourglass
Binnacle box
Quadrant
“Knots” cylinder
Lead Line
Astrolabe
Navigation has examples of these tools.

6. Try the Anchors Aweigh:Longitude Mapping Game.
Maps
Maps have been used for centuries to help travelers reach their destination.
Ancient maps used:
Latitude
Degrees
Cardinal directions
Try the Anchors Aweigh:Longitude Mapping Game.

7. Consider the Following Questions:
Pause Video
How can maps be used today?
How have maps evolved?
What do different maps show?
Restart Video

8. Suggested Activities
Compare a map from Columbus’s voyage to a map from today.
Plot the locations of various points using the maps.
Plot Columbus’s voyage to the new world.

9. Suggested Activities Create a map of your neighborhood.
Compare your map to a key map of that same area to see the difference between the map designs.

10. Read more on Understanding and Using a Compass.
The compass was used to guide travelers on their journey.
Ancient compasses pointed to magnetic north not true north.
Read more on Understanding and Using a Compass.

11. Compass Activities Pause Video
Compare compasses of the past with compasses of today.
Write a paragraph about the differences between the two and how the compass has been improved.
Restart Video

12. Find out more about The History of the Hourglass.
Used to keep time aboard ship.
Explorers were able to track their location by knowing the time and the distance they traveled.
Find out more about The History of the Hourglass.

13. Hourglass Exploration
Use plastic soda bottles and sand to create your own hourglass.
Brainstorm ways that watches have replaced the use of hourglasses.

14. How was the Binnacle Box Used with the Hourglass?
Inside the Binnacle box there is a compass. The compass helps in steering the boat in the right direction. The Binnacle box has half hour time periods marked on the top.

15. Ptolemy’s Ptools discusses how Columbus used a Quadrant.
This tool was used by Christopher Columbus.
It used the sun’s position to determine latitude.
Ptolemy’s Ptools discusses how Columbus used a Quadrant.

16. Calculates distance in a set amount of time.
“Knots” Cylinder
Calculates distance in a set amount of time.

17. Knots per Hour THINK ABOUT IT How were the knots calculated?
Calculate knots per hour.

18. Check up : How to Calculate Knots
Use a thirty second time period to calculate knots.
There is a knot every 51 feet.
There are 120 thirty second time intervals per hour.
So….
120 x 51 = 6,120 feet per hour or
1 nautical mile per hour

19. Lead line The lead line was used to make maps. Used to measure depth.
Collected samples from ocean bottom to help explorers determine location.

20. Astrolabe Used by Portuguese to determine latitude of navigation.
It measures the angle between the horizon and Polaris (North Star).

21. New Developments in Navigation
Technology is a dominant part of today’s navigation.
Today’s navigation is still based on mathematics.

22. Global Positioning System
Uses satellites 11,000 miles from Earth.
To get a latitude and longitude reading you need information from three satellites.
Information gathering is much much more reliable and faster.
Visit GPS Explained for more information.

23. Brainstorm
Think of the advances in navigation that you saw in this video.
With advancing technology, what could be some possible tools of navigation for the future?

24. See Moving Map with Touch Screen Control to see an example.
Shows where you are and where you are going on an actual map.
See Moving Map with Touch Screen Control to see an example.

25. Assessment
What are some innovative ways of assessing student understanding of the differences and similarities between ancient and modern navigation?