Lost At Sea
Camille Holmgren
, Buffalo State College
Summary
Students work as teams to "sail" around the North Atlantic using their knowledge of latitude, longitude, time, winds, and ocean currents to complete the voyage.
Context
Audience:
introductory physical geography or oceanography (used in our World Natural Environments course - see course profile).
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered:
latitude and longitude, relationship between longitude and time, seasons and solar declination, global wind systems, and ocean currents
How the activity is situated in the course:
stand-alone activity that draws on concepts from prior exercises
Goals
Content/concepts goals for this activity:
concepts include latitude, longitude and time, seasons, global winds, and ocean currents
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity:
students must apply concepts to solve problems
Other skills goals for this activity:
working in groups
Description of the activity/assignment
Preparation for this activity involves background lectures, readings, and prior exercises related to latitude, longitude, the relationship between longitude and time, seasons and solar declination, global atmospheric circulation, and global currents. In class, students work in small groups to complete a "voyage" around the North Atlantic Ocean using their prior knowledge, maps of winds and currents from their text, their notes, and a globe. This activity gives students practice using maps, discerning latitude and longitude using time and seasonal information, and using characteristics of global winds and currents to find their location.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Students turn in worksheets with answers to the problem set.
More information about assessment tools and techniques.Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (Acrobat (PDF) 250kB Aug20 08)
Other Materials
Supporting references/URLs
This activity was modified from an exercise designed by oceanography faculty at the University of Arizona
