Curated OER
Where Am I?
Extensive background on marine navigation is provided for you as the teacher. Assign groups to research marine navigation techniques and construct astrolabes. Resource links are listed for extension ideas. If you are teaching an...
Curated OER
Navigation By the North Star: A Lesson Plan in Four Parts
Students investigate why the North Star was important for navigation, how stars move across the night sky, how to locate the North Star, how to make a crude sextant, and how to determine latitude using a sextant and the North Star. They...
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.
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: Age of Exploration: Tools of Navigation
Sailors improved on many of the tools used in navigation to help them in their long journeys across an ocean. On this site from the Mariners' Museum, find many of these tools, perhaps in use already in the 15th century, but made even...
TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: How Does Math Guide Our Ships at Sea?
Explore the history of logarithms and sailing by watching this animated video. [4:19]
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Inventors & Inventions From the 1700s
Use this site to learn more about early inventors and inventions from the 18th century. This web page offers text and images on various inventors and their inventions. You can also access information about inventors and inventions from...
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Sextant Solutions
The earliest explorers did not have computers or satellites to help them know their exact location. The most accurate tool developed was the sextant to determine latitude and longitude. In this activity, the sextant is introduced and...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: Resources: Age of Exploration
Scroll to the bottom of this page to access activity resources and lesson plans that encourage students to explore an understand the practicalities and difficulties involved in sailing to new places during the Age of Exploration.
Science Struck
Science Struck: Devices Used to Measure Angles
Looks at the many devices used to measure angles in academic settings and in real-world settings.