Teaching Azimuth and Using a Compass Rose

So, all your students have made a Clinometer. Now what do you do?

Well, first you have to teach altitude and azimuth, but because they have made their Clinometers, they are more likely to pay attention while you teach the basics.

I would recommend holding off teaching how to use the Clinometers for a bit. Teach how to use a compass first.

TEACHING AZIMUTH USING THE COMPASS

If you are lucky, you will have a class set of compasses, maybe even orienteering compasses. The most fun? Everyone has their own compass. Even small, cheap ones, just enough for everyone!

Have your students help push the room's tables or desks toward the center of the room. Have everyone stand in a ring around the outside of the room.

Run them through a series of review exercises. Start with lining the needle up with north, of course. Ask them to point to north. Then have them all point to the east, the west, the south, etc. Then try for the fancier ones, like southwest, southeast, etc. If they do well with this, throw in south-southwest and see if anyone knows these, or can work it out.

During this session, have volunteers stick large printed labels of the various compass points on the classroom walls. My classroom was not facing true north so the walls were all the southeast, northwest. North was in a corner. Made it easier to have them up for my students. Use sticky putty on the backs of the labels. Take them down at the end of each class so the next can put them up, too. You can leave them up after your last class leaves.

Now, here's the really fun part. REALLY TEACH AZIMUTH! Make sure your students are evenly spaced around the edge of the room and in a circle of sorts. Run through a tough, quick review of what you just reviewed and add on:

1. Raise your hand if you are at north. (Should only be one hand up. If no one is perfectly north, have one move into that position.)
2. What degrees is the North person? (If no one knows, ask them to guess. Don't tell them outright. Lead them by asking how many total degrees in a circle, and so on. They should see that North is both 0 and 360.)
3. Move on to South. Raise your hand if you are at South.
   
4. What degrees is the South person?
5. Repeat for East and West.
   
6. Move on to northeast, southeast, northwest, southwest.
7. Go over all again. This time have everyone point to the representative person. Always ask for degrees and compass point.
8. Try a couple of the south-southwest or north-northwest, etc., but don't do much if they are on overload.
   
9. NOW have everyone walk a quarter turn around the room. Go over many of them again.
10. Repeat again if they can handle it. Otherwise move on to the worksheet.

NOTE: We will do this type of Virtual Compass tomorrow, only use altitude in the sky instead. When you put them together, you really have something, my friends! I've give the details on these variations in the coming days.

After you think your class understands the compass points and degrees, have them sit down and give them all this worksheet which reviews what you've just covered.

TEACHING AZIMUTH USING THE COMPASS ROSE



You can do something similar using paper compass roses. Click here for a good one you can have your first class glue the entire page onto cardboard. Smooth carefully. (You now have a complete set for the rest of the year. Just be sure to number them and collect back each hour.)

Click here for a fun Compass Rose review worksheet that uses a world map. Click here for a blank one from Enchanted Learning. Click here for another good review page.

With a Compass Rose, you need to masking-tape or chalk a north-south line on your floor or in the parking lot or on the concrete playground. Your students put their compass roses on the north-south line, all norths facing north and move themselves around the rose, always looking at the direction from across the rose. Works great if you don't have compasses!

Run your students through a review similar to the above. It will be slightly different but they should all be moving around their compasses. Stand on the point would be in the correct position. Look to the northwest, they would be standing southeast looking to the northwest. NOTE: You may need several north-south lines on the floor/pavement so they all have room to walk around their roses.

Click here for the complete Teaching Azimuth by Using a Compass or Compass Rose Pdf! (Coming soon.)

Come back tomorrow for How to Teach Altitude and Using a Clinometer.

Building the Sun Clinometer

I love having kids make scientific instruments!

Making scientific instruments requires a certain mindset from students. They have to be careful, precise, and CARE about what they are doing. Basically, if you are picky-picky in the grading, but cheerful and encouraging, you will be thrilled with the results!

Some students who are normally sloppy will rise to the occasion and make beautiful instruments. I personally believe that if you push kids to dig deep and find the BEST they've got inside themselves, THIS is what gives them self-confidence in themselves! Not empty praise!

So, in the making of the Clinometer, you need to set the stage correctly. By that, I mean:

1. Have all the materials collected.


2. Have a couple of Clinometers made by you and labeled with your name.


3. Have the Rubric run off.


4. Have the Clinometer Directions run off.

Here's how you introduce the day:

Show your Clinometer to the class. Talk with enthusiasm about how you will be going outside every sunny day for the next month to take sun measurements and once a week after that for the REST OF THE YEAR. Encourage them to make a really good one because it must be properly calibrated to get good measurements. Tell them you will know for sure if someone's Clinometer isn't made correctly because their measurements will be different from the class average. Tell them you are going to be picky in the grading so that everyone has a good Clinometer to use.

Go over the Directions and the Rubric with them step by step. Don't repeat yourself at all! This is important. You want them to hear it once and then look at your examples later if they missed something. There is great value in not overdoing the set-up. Quick and clean, I say. Them set them loose.

Put some fun music on the CD player. I love playing a CD collection of science fiction movies and having them guess what movie it is.

When they are done, they line up by you with their Clinometer and the Rubric and you grade them on the spot. If they are less than perfect, give them a chance to go back and fix the errors and come back to get a new grade. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. By giving them a second-chance, they will TRY HARDER!

Tell them you will teach them how to use this Clinometer tomorrow and move on to the next thing if you have time or dismiss the class.

Be sure to collect the Clinometers in a bin labeled for their class.

Come back tomorrow for Teaching Azimuth and Using a Compass Rose.

Click here for the complete Build a Sun Clinometer Pdf, including a fun Improve Your Clinometer Follow-Up Activity!

Measuring the Sun's Movement

For the next few days, I'll be talking about how to excite your students to follow the Sun.

For many years, my Earth Science classes measured the Sun's movement across the sky in three seasons and plotted and studied what that meant. It was one of the most meaningful and exciting things I've ever done.



First we had our students build Sunscopes. I'm going to offer a simpler Sun Clinometer to have your students build.



Then you have your students measure the altitude of many things inside and outside your school until they understand how to measure Altitude which measures height above the horizon in degrees.

You also have to teach Azimuth which uses a compass and indicates the direction from north in degrees.

Finally, by taking and plotting the measurements in the fall, winter, and spring or early summer, you can show the seasonal changes of the Sun in the sky. This touches things like length of day/night and where the sun is in the sky during each season.



I had a set of clear plastic domes that we used to plot the three seasons with wax pencils. Even kewler!



This was one of the biggest ongoing projects I've ever done. It was worth all the work. It real REAL SCIENCE in its purest form: OBSERVATION. I loved it. I'm hoping some of you will, too!

STAY TUNED!

The Art of NOT Answering Questions

I was famous for not answering a student's questions.

They would get really frustrated; but I stood my ground. In my opinion, not answering questions is not enough. A teacher needs to do more!

I would also ask pointed questions to lead the student to his/her own answer. I believe the way to develop an inquiring mind in our young people, using science as the vehicle, is to use the Socratic Method.

NOT ANSWERING QUESTIONS is an art. Once you train yourself to do it, many benefits appear as if by magic! It tells the students you know they can figure it out for themselves, which fosters self-confidence. They start to think for themselves!

If a student expresses irritation with me, I calmly explain what I'm doing. How the easy way of just answering their questions is NOT a favor to them! How learning to see a question through to an answer all alone makes them strong. Most students end up liking this method.

Students really want us to push them to think on their own. Being successful at something that's hard is wonderful! Give your students that gift!

CONSIDER THIS: Don't answer you students questions. Ask another QUESTION!

FUN LINKS: Use the Socratic Method.

Download a Pdf about How to Use the Socratic Method in the Classroom.

Movie Day

Need a break? If you're teaching Geo. History right now, you're in luck!

Show the movie, Jurassic Park!



Here's a Fun Worksheet that asks some good Earth-Science-type questions.

Have a good day!