Teachers.netTools of Navigation
Tools of Navigation: A Kid's Guide to the History and Science of Finding Your Way travels through the past and into the future to explore how humans have found their way from one place to another successfully and efficiently throughout history. Kids will track the evolution of navigational methods and tools, meet explorers and inventors who changed the way we look at the world, learn interesting facts and trivia, and work on 15 hands-on projects and activities to understand how civilization's vague abilities to avoid getting lost has transformed over centuries into a sophisticated ability to know exactly where we are on the planet at any given moment.and how civilization's vague abilities to track days and months has transformed over centuries into a sophisticated ability to keep time to the millionth of a second.
Winner 2006, Best Children's or Young Adult Book, American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA)
"This delightful mix of science, history, and adventure makes the perfect basis for a unit study on navigation or as an adjunct to a unit on exploration." —Eclectic Homeschool Online
"Information-packed resource." —Curriculum Connections (School Library Journal supplement)
"Provides an intriguing and informative look at how humans have managed to find their way across the globe." —School Library Journal
"Lively text. . . a handy resource." —VOYA magazine, February 2006
"Tools of Navigation will provide you with skills and inspiration." —Kim Kavin, editor of Voyaging magazine
"A delightful exploration of how humans through the ages have found their way and sought to depict and measure the world. " —Terry Devitt, Editor, The Why Files, "The Science Behind the News"
"A wonderful example of how to clearly organize information about history, technology and science to appeal to the curiosity and learning capabilities of gifted students." - Gifted Education News, December 2005
"A remarkable account of navigation and the problems presented to the early sailors."
—Ted Jones, Commodore of the Joshua Slocum Society
"This book has it all: history, science, math, inventions, vocabulary, art, diversity, and laughs!"
—Melissa Norkin, Editor, Cousteau Kids
"Whether you choose to explore the Earth by boat or by car or on the soles of your feet, Tools of Navigation will provide you with skills and inspiration."—Kim Kavin, editor of Voyaging magazine
"A delightful exploration of how humans through the ages have found their way and sought to depict and measure the world." —Terry Devitt, Editor, The Why Files, “The Science Behind the News”
"A remarkable account of navigation and the problems presented to the early sailors."—Ted Jones, Commodore of the Joshua Slocum Society
Books
Fritz, Jean. Around the World in a Hundred Years: From Henry the Navigator to Magellan, Putnam, 1998
Gurney, Alan. Compass: A Story of Exploration and Innovation (W.W. Norton & Co., 2004).
Horwitz, Tony. Blue Latitudes: Boldly going where Captain Cook has Gone Before (Henry Holt & Company LLC, 2002).
Kjellstrom, Bjorn. Be Expert with Map & Compass: The Complete Orienteering Handbook (Hungry Minds, Inc., 1994).
Letham, Lawrence. GPS Made Easy: Using Global Positioning Systems in the Outdoors, 4th ed. (The Mountaineers, 2003).
Severin, Tim. The China Voyage: Across the Pacific by Bamboo Raft (London: Little, Brown, 1994).
Severin, Tim. Tracking Marco Polo (Peter Bedrick Books, 1986).
Sherman, Eric. Geocaching: Hike and Seek with your GPS (Apress, 2004).
Wilford, John Noble. The Mapmakers: The story of the great pioneers in cartography— from Antiquity to the Space Age (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981).
Children’s Books
Armstrong, Jennifer. Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World : The Extraordinary True Story of Shackleton and the Endurance, (Crown Books for Young Readers, 2000).
Harmon, Daniel. Robert Peary: And the Quest for the North Pole (Chelsea House Publications, 2001).
Herbert, Janis. Lewis and Clark for Kids: Their Journey of Discovery With 21 Activities. (Chicago Review Press, 2000).
Johnson, Sylvia. Mapping the World. (Atheneum, 1999).
MacDonald, Fiona. Marco Polo: A Journey Through China (Franklin Watts, 1998).
Matthews, Rupert. Explorer (DK Children, 2005).
Stott, Carole, and Gorton, Steve. Space Exploration (DK Children, 2004).
Web Sites
www.geocaching.com
www.eduscapes.com/geocaching/kids.htm
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/longitude
www.trimble.com/gps/
www.boatsafe.com/kids/navigation.htm
www.usgs.gov
www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/fall01/navigators/navigators.html
www.asij.ac.jp/elementary/links/currlink/exploration.htm
www.celestialnavigation.net
www.polarization.com
www.lewis-clark.org
www.silk-road.com
www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions
An astrolabe helped explorers find their latitude by measuring angles using the stars as reference points.
