Orienteering is an activity where participants use a compass to move from one point to another point. The procedure can be a valuable tool to help students become more observant of their surroundings. Orienteering the school environment brings exploration and navigation to the classroom and the school campus. It personalizes geography so students develop a sense of awareness and understanding of their environment and how they relate to it.

Teaching Level: 4-12 (adaptable)

Connection to National Standards: The geographically informed person knows and understands:

#1- How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information from a spatial perspective.

#2- How to use mental maps to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.

#3- How to analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on Earth's surface.

#4- The physical and human characteristics of places.

Materials:

• A map of the school
• A compass for each group of students.
• Rulers, paper, pencils

Introducing the lesson: Orienteering is using a map and a compass to determine the best way to go from one place to another place. Students will read symbols on the map to visualize the landscape, then select the best route to travel from one place to another recording their findings and creating an accurate map of the school.

Procedure:

• Make a general map of your school or use a map provided by your school.
• Mark place locations on the school map with a small symbol. Students will use the marked places as a guide of where they should move throughout the area.
• Put students in groups of 3-4 to work together.
• Give each group of students a compass.
• Go over the procedure of using a compass. (Give extensive time for this. It will determine the success that students experience when completing the orienteering activity.)

Using a Compass: The compass is the basic tool we use to determine direction.

Parts of the Compass: The compass consists of three basic parts:
Magnetic needle.
The magnetic needle is a free-floating needle that will always point to the magnetic north pole. Keep in mind the magnetic North Pole and the true North Pole are not located in the same place. If you are using a compass and map together, you must make adjustments to compensate for the difference. The geographic grid used to create maps makes reference to the true North Pole.

Revolving compass housing.
The revolving compass housing can be rotated independently of the magnetic needle. Around the compass housing is a scale marked in 360 degree of a circle. North is the starting position located at 0 degree, East is located at 90 degree, South is located at 180 degree, and West is located at 270 degree. Expressing direction as the number of degrees from north is called bearing.

Base plate.
The base plate is inscribed with the orienting arrow, direction-of-travel arrow and the index mark. The number appearing over the index mark is called the compass bearing. The measuring rules are inscribed around the edges of the base plate.

Locating a Specific Direction:

• To find a specific direction, for example north:
• Rotate the compass housing so that 0 degree is directly over the index mark.
• Hold the compass at your waist with north pointing in front and away from you. Be careful if there are metal objects nearby as they can affect the compass reading.
• Hold the compass steady and turn your body until the red end of the floating magnetic needle is aligned with the orienting arrow on the base plate.
• Look directly ahead. You are now facing north.
• When you want to find another direction, set that direction and repeat the steps you took to find north.

Determining the Bearing of a Distant Object:

• Face the object.
• Hold the compass either at waist or chest level with the direction-of-travel arrow pointing straight ahead.
• Rotate the compass housing until the floating needle is aligned over the orienting arrow on the base plate.
• The north end of the needle should point toward the tip of the orienting arrow. Read the bearing, in degrees, from the scale at the index mark.

Traveling a Compass Course:

• For example, if you were to travel a course from point A to point B at a bearing of 160 degree.
• Rotate the compass housing until 160 degree intersects the direction-of-travel arrow.
• Hold the compass steady at your waist with the direction-of-travel arrow pointing away from you.
• Rotate your body until the red floating magnetic needle aligns with the orienting arrow on the base plate. You are now facing 160 degree.
• Look ahead of you and fix your eyes on a distant object that is on an imaginary line extending from the direction-of-travel arrow. This is your course.

Students should accurately map the school.

Assessment:
Students should demonstrate good spatial concepts and their awareness of their surroundings by completing the Orienteering activity and creating an accurate map of the school.

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