No Colorado Model Content Standard for celestial navigation?

Ever wonder exactly how men like Columbus, Cook, Magellan and Lewis & Clark knew where they were? They used the 2400 year old astrolabe; the precursor to a modern sextant. This lesson uses a simple astrolabe built out of paper, string and a straw to demonstrate celestial navigation. Students can learn to measure angles and what lines of latitude are while reading about pirates. Aaargh Matey! This lesson plan demonstrates my ability to design a lesson that is flexible and utilitarian enough to teach history, science, math, or geography while using a variety of literature.

Established Goals:
Math standard 5, grades 5-8, benchmark 1: Estimate, use, and describe measures of distance, perimeter, area, volume, capacity, weight, mass and angle.
Geography standard 1.1, grades 5-8: Interpreting and constructing maps, globes, models, charts and geographic databases.
History standard 4.1, grades 5-8: Identify and explain the consequences of scientific and technological changes (navigation and transportation).

Understandings: Students will understand what and astrolabe is and how it was used.

Essential Questions: How did Christopher Columbus, Captain Cook, Ferdinand Magellan, pirates and other explorers navigate the open ocean?

Students will know... How changes in celestial navigational enabled humans to map and explore the earth.

Students will be able to...
Measure angles using a protractor.
Identify longitudinal lines on a map or globe and explain how they are derived.

Performance Assessment:
Using a self constructed astrolabe, students will be able to measure an angle to within 5⁰.
Correctly identify longitudinal lines on a map or globe.
Use longitudinal lines to create a map illustrating how to navigate to a given location.

Other Assessment:
Classroom discussions and questioning.
Small group measurement practice.

Learning Activities:
1. Build background knowledge by discussing ocean travel during Christopher Columbus' time. How did Columbus know where he was when he could see nothing but water? This can be used with almost any non-fiction literature on ocean exploration, Christopher Columbus, Captain Cook, Ferdinand Magellan or even pirates. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea also makes an excellent fiction accompanyment to this lesson. For you land lubbers, Lewis and Clark also used a sextant (more accurate version of the astrolabe) on their expedition as did Zebulon Pike.
2. Discuss the Astrolabe, its different forms and history.
3. Discuss Polaris (North Star), its alignment with the earth's axis (<1⁰), its distance from earth(430 ly) and how to find it using Ursa Major (The Big Dipper).
4. Discuss lines of latitude on a map or globe and their correlation to Polaris.
5. Guide students through the construction of the astrolabe. Materials needed per astrolabe: 1 drinking straw, 6" of string, I paper protractor, 1 sewing needle, masking tape, scissors. Also maps or globes
6. Model taking measurements with the astrolabe. You will need to create artificial North Stars using a projector or just hanging paper start around the room. Plans for a simple constellation projector can be found in Still More Science Activities ed. Cheryl Solinini. Smithsonian Institute, 1989.
7. Break the class into small groups and have them practice measuring angles in the classroom and recording their measurements.
8. Connect the measurements the students have recorded to lines of latitude on the map or globe. Where could you be if you measured 37⁰?
9. Have students pick somewhere they would like to go on vacation and create a map illustrating how to navigate to that location using lines of latitude as a directions.
Other Ideas
Put lines of latitude on the floor of your classroom with string. Have the students label the lines using the measurements they derive with their astrolabe. Have large cutouts of the different continents for the students to place and the correct latitude until they have constructed their own map of the world.
Lesson taken from Projects in Space by Robert Gardner. Simon and Schuster, 1988.