The earliest explorers did not have computers or satellites to help them know their exact location. The most accurate tool developed was the sextant to determine latitude and longitude. In this activity, the sextant is introduced and discussed with the class. Students will learn how a sextant can be a reliable tool that is still being used by today's navigators and how computers can help assure accuracy when measuring angles. Also, this activity will show how computers can be used to understand equations even when knowing how to do the math is unknown.

Concepts

engineering, navigation, stem

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Additional Tags

early exploration, latitude, longitude, sextant, integrated teaching and learning program and laboratory, teachengineering

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Classroom Considerations

• Knovation Readability Score: 3 (1 low difficulty, 5 high difficulty)