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Lesson 2 Guide: Navigation
Activities
- Make a Mercator Projection -- transforming the globe to a flat sheet
- In the Wake of Lewis and Clark -- following a trail
Link to Lesson 2: Navigation
Notes
This lesson explores how maps have been used in navigation. Travelers collected observations to keep track of their positions and plotted this information on maps. Navigators and mapmakers devised maps for different needs, translating the three-dimensional globe onto flat maps, sometimes inventing projections with special characteristics.
Make a Mercator Projection has students make a close approximation of the most common projection in use today. In the Wake of Lewis and Clark has students trace the route of this expedition and plan a trip that follows a part of this route.
Glossary
None.
Answers to questions
| Make a Mercator Projection |
| Procedure 14 |
The outlining of continents need be only as detailed as required to use the map for plotting a few routes. Columbus' route should go from south-western Spain to San Salvador in the Caribbean; that is, from latitude 37°N, longitude 7° W, to latitude 24° N, longitude 74°30'. From your hometown, plot a route to any point on the western coast of Africa. From Kuwait, plot an ocean route to Tokyo. You cannot plot polar explorations because polar areas are not shown on this projection. |
| Extension 1 |
To compare properties of projections, collect several maps and look on each for the name of the projection, usually in the lower right or left corner. Different publishers may prefer different projections. |
| In Wake of Lewis and Clark |
| Procedure 3 |
To estimate how far students might be able to travel in a week, they must decide on a type of boat, estimate its speed and the number of hours a day they will travel. Obstacles include dams, other structures, and river traffic. Supplies can be purchased en route or cached ahead of time. Have students compare their lists of supplies with the list from Lewis and Clark's journal.
Responsibilities in the group might include leading, navigating, handing food, handling finances, keeping written records, taking photographs, conducting scientific investigations, etc. Costs might be paid by travelers themselves and their families or by a sponsoring organization that might want to dictate part of the purpose of the trip. Students might accomplish a variety of goals: documenting conditions along the route, following the route and schedule of the original explores as closely as possible, checking the explorers' celestial observations using today's tools, etc.
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Intro & Lessons |
Teacher's Guide |
Explorers
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