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Nautical Chart Educational ProgramMultimedia Effort to Teach Charting and Navigation to Children
NOAA Ocean Service Education has released a multimedia educational program for elementary aged students that teaches children about nautical charts and marine navigation.
The National Ocean Service (NOS) has released a new multimedia education program that teaches children about charting and navigation called Nautical Charts: Message in a Bottle. Part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOS launched the online program at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in Boston, Massachusetts where thousands of teachers exchanged the latest research and findings related to science education. In an Agency press release, NOAA Director of Education Louisa Koch says of the project, "NOAA is delighted to be able to make available another marine science elementary educational tool. We are working hard at expanding our offerings so that marine science activities can become an increasing part of our nation's science educational efforts at all levels." Nautical Charts: Message in a Bottle is geared toward students in the third through fifth grades. The online multimedia program teaches children about charting and navigation through lessons on chart symbolisms, boat safety and the importance of marine charts. The presentation uses the successful format found in a previous educational effort titled Sea Floor Mapping. A Multimedia Educational Mystery - Students are presented with a mystery that arises from the recovery of a message found in a bottle off the coast of Massachusetts that includes a scrape of a nautical chart for Cape Hatteras. The message details a lost gold ring and students learn about charts while conducting a hunt to identify the ring's location. This storyline ties into the actual discovery of a gold ring in the artifacts of the USS Monitor shipwreck found in Newport News, Virginia. Chart Navigation Lesson Components -
Chart Navigation provides information to students through the use of text, graphics, sounds, video clips and photographs. Activities include conducting a scavenger hunt, making a chart that ensures safe boat travel, discovering chart symbols and plotting a safe voyage on a chart. The lesson provides a glossary of terms and a resource of related publications for further information. NOAA has provided elementary aged students with a great boating education resource that should interest boaters of any age.
The copyright of the article Nautical Chart Educational Program in Boating & Sailing is owned by Alan Sorum. Permission to republish Nautical Chart Educational Program in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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