Over the last 500 years humans have gone from seeing a man in the moon to seeing a man on the moon. This phenomenal advance in collective learning has taken place thanks in large part to a group of strategies which have come to be referred to as The Scientific Method. If humankind has made so much progress by using the Scientific Method, then why not teach all our children to use it at an early age rather than waiting until high school or college to teach a few who are fast-tracked into science and technology careers. If we have made this much progress with a few humans using these strategies, then what will our collective learning curve look like if we are all trained to make science discoveries and/or to appreciate the discoveries of others?

Sunday, October 14, 2007

COMPASS POINTS

OBJECTIVE:USE A COMPASS AND AZIMUTH CHART TO IDENTIFY NEIGHBORHOOD LANDMARKS THAT REPRESENT THE CARDINAL POINTS.

Time Needed: One period

Materials:

Azimuth Chart
1 Compass for every two students (degrees should be labeled)
Pencil
Journal

Procedure:

1. Tell students to point in the direction of north.
2. Ask them how they can prove that they are correct.
3. Hand out the compasses.
4. Ask students to take out their azimuth charts.
5. How is the compass like the azimuth chart? How is it different?
6. Show students how to line up the compass needle with North.
7. Ask students if the compass can help them prove which direction is north. (Compasses don’t work near large metal objects. Therefore in most buildings, the compasses will give different readings depending on where the student is sitting, and where he/she holds the compass.)
8. Inform students that their readings are different because of the large amount of metal in the building.
9. Organize students into pairs, and take them out of the building.
10. Have students find north with respect to the school building.
11. Ask them to draw and label a compass rose (azimuth chart) in their journals and write the major neighborhood landmarks that can be found at 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees.

NYS Standards

Physical Setting Skill #5 use a magnetic compass to find cardinal directions
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