Wilderness Navigation Outline
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Wilderness Navigation Outline Big Idea Topographic maps and observation of the landscape allow us to navigate in unknown areas with confidence. Essential Questions • By observing our surroundings, what tools can help us find our location on a map? • How does learning these skills increase our appreciation of new places and our ability to explore them? Vocabulary • Compass Rose—shows the cardinal directions on a map • Conspicuous—standing out so as to be clearly visible • Contour lines—lines on a map joining points of equal height above or below sea level • Depression—a sunken physical landmark • Elevation—height above sea level • Knoll—a small hill or mound • Landmark—a feature on the landscape that is easily recognized from a distance • Legend/Key—the wording on a map or diagram explaining the symbols used • Orient—to align or position a map relative to the points of a compass or other speci- fied location • Scale—shows the size of things on a map relative to their size in real life • Topographic—a detailed representation or description of natural or artificial physical features on a map Lesson Outline • Map Introduction • Map Making • Understanding Contour Lines • Fun Course • The Woods Course–Part I • Compass Introduction/The Woods Course–Part II Great Smoky mountainS inStitute at tremont 1 Wilderness Navigation Outline Optional Activities • Topo Symbols Game • More Compass Work—Taking a Bearing • The Story of Jack and the Soap Rings • The Shadow THE TEACHER’S ROLE The Wilderness Navigation class will be taught by a Tremont naturalist with support from teachers and chaperones. Often for schools participating in cooperative teaching, two lesson groups will be combined in this class, resulting in a group size of up to 30 students. The teacher’s role is mainly of supervision and making sure all students remain on task. When the Tremont teacher/naturalist hands out the maps and begins asking students to point out different locations, teachers can speed up the process by helping check that each student is pointing to the right place on his or her map. Depending on the size of the class, the teacher may be asked to take a small group on the Fun Course, a short exploration of the physical features of Tremont’s campus as depicted on a topographic map. See below for more details and instructions. The main activity in Wilderness Navigation is the Woods Course, a scavenger hunt which has two parts. The first half (Stations One through Five) is done around the buildings: the ac- tivity center, Friendship Circle, office, etc. All of these buildings are within a fourth of a mile of the office. The second half (Stations Six through Ten) is in the Bull Branch area or around West Prong Trail (your group will be using one or the other, not both). The Bull Branch area is bounded on one side by a river and on two other sdies by intermittent streams and the fourth by the falls trail, and is approximately 100 meters by 300 meters. The West Prong area is comparable in size and is bounded by a road and a trail junction. Just before the Woods Course begins, the students will either be put in teams or asked to form their own teams. Because teachers know their students much better than the Tremont teacher/naturalists do, it is extremely helpful for teachers to monitor the formation of teams and to separate students who will not work well together. During the first half of the Woods Course, teachers and chaperones should roam through- out the course area as a safety measure and a resource for students. The Tremont teacher/ naturalist will remain at the meeting spot waiting for groups to finish the course. Two rules will be spelled out to the students: they should stay with their team at all times and they should not run. Teachers can help enforce those rules and can also give advice to any teams that may be having trouble finding stations. Finally, during the second half of the Woods Course, the teacher’s role does not change very much. One teacher or chaperone may be asked to stay in a certain spot, such as a trail junction, to make sure students stay within bounds. That teacher should listen for the Trem- ont teacher/naturalist to blow a whistle when time is up and return to the prearranged meet- ing spot along with any students encountered on the way. Great Smoky mountainS inStitute at tremont 2 Wilderness Navigation Activities MAP INTRODUCTION 15 Minutes Lead In Explain to the students that today’s lesson deals with the use of maps. They will be using the maps for a variety of activities, including the main event: the Woods Course, an adventure in the charted wilder- ness! Stress that they need to pay close attention so that they will under- stand maps and be adequately equipped for the Woods Course. Procedures With the group seated in a circle, ask the students what kinds of people use maps. (vacationers, sailors, pilots, hikers, everyday people) Have they used maps? What types of maps have they used? These could be maps from school, like political or physical maps, or they could be maps the students have used to find their way around a place such as a mall or amusement park. Ask the students what important things need to be on every map. The key or legend tells us what every symbol on the map represents, the scale tells us the size of the area represented, and the compass rose tells us how the area is oriented. Do people still use landmarks to find their way around? Name some landmarks that people use. (hills, trees, rivers, valleys, buildings, signs, road junctions, etc.) How do people keep track of these important features that help them find their way? (memory, maps) Wrap Up Tell the students that now that they understand that there are differ- ent types of maps for difference purposes, they are going to make a map of the Tremont campus which will include several of the features just discussed. MAP MAKING 20 Minutes Lead In Take the students on a quick walk around Tremont’s campus to look for landmarks. Tell them to use their powers of observation to keep track of the size and placement of each landmark in relation to all the others. Help them with these observations by pausing to ask questions such as, “Which is bigger, the Activity Center or the Dorm?” or “From here, point in the direction of the Council House.” Make sure to let the students identify some landmarks, and pause at some things that would not be good landmarks, such as cars. Procedures Once you return to the original meeting place, review the tour you Great Smoky mountainS inStitute at tremont 3 Wilderness Navigation Activities have just taken and ask the students to take out pencil and paper to draw a map of the Tremont campus. Each map should contain a key, a scale, a compass rose, and the landmarks from the tour. The landmarks should be in the right places, but the students should not draw each one in detail. Instead, they should come up with a simple symbol for each one. For example, a square could be a building. Where could they explain what the symbols mean? (in the key) For the scale, because you didn’t measure as you walked, just stress that landmarks should be the right size in relation to each other. To make a compass rose, what do they need to know? (which way is north) In general on the Tremont campus, the office area is north. Does north have to be at the top of the page? (No, not at all. The Earth is a sphere, so north could be anywhere on the map. The important thing is to have all the landmarks lined up in the right order.) Once the students have had about 10 minutes to work on their maps, you can either check each one for accuracy or gather the group to make a map together. Using a white board, draw a few major landmarks, like the road and the meeting place where your group is, and then take one volunteer at a time from the group to add landmarks to the map. The rest of the group should be modifying their maps if necessary. AlternAtive Procedures If time is an issue, just make a map as a group, without having each student make an individual map. In this case, it is imperative that every- one participates. If a student is unsure or wrong about the placement or size of a landmark, the group can help. Wrap Up Tell the students that now that they have all explored Tremont and made maps, you are going to give them another map to look at and use. Explain to the students that they are going to use topographic maps to get to specific locations around the Tremont area. Emphasize that it is easier to use topographic maps to keep from getting lost than to try to use them after you are lost. They are tools to prevent people from get- ting lost when exploring or hiking, and help them to observe and appre- ciate the environment or surroundings. UNDERSTANDING CONTOUR LINES 20 Minutes Lead In Hand out one topographic map per student or group of two or three students. Briefly discuss the legend and scale and have the students find examples on the map of things shown in the legend. Great Smoky mountainS inStitute at tremont 4 Wilderness Navigation Activities Procedures Ask the students what the squiggly lines all over the map represent.