PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Central Wyoming College (CWC) is located northeast of the Wind River Mountains.  Although many people find recreation in the wilderness and remote areas surrounding the area there are still people who lose their lives because they become lost or disoriented.  Creating an interdisciplinary field-based curriculum unit within mathematics (MATH 1000) and earth science (GEOL 1070) courses for non-science and education majors, will provide students an opportunity to develop an understanding of landscape formation and wilderness navigation using geospatial technology.  It will also provide some of the necessary skills for survival while developing critical thinking and quantitative literacy.

A brief history of navigation, including the importance of finding latitude and longitude, and the fairly recent implementation of the Global Positioning System, will precede activities in which students learn to use a basic compass.  In addition to learning how to adjust for magnetic declination they will read topographic maps, specifically USGS quadrangles, while taking bearings and triangulating.  They will learn how to read and measure latitude and longitude, as well as universal transverse Mercator projection measurements (UTM’s), to find their position.

Our goal is to provide life-saving information to students while incorporating necessary core curriculum from both mathematics and earth science classes.  We will work to create field-based activities, as well as assessments, to insure that students who complete the course are prepared to safely enjoy the outdoors and are prepared for any courses requiring mathematical problem-solving and/or lab science as a prerequisite.

PROJECT BACKGROUND
This curriculum unit will begin with a brief history of navigation which discusses the importance of finding longitude and its effect on world trade development.  Students will learn the importance of the development of the universal transverse Mercator projection after World War II and how the Global Positioning System (GPS) came to be.

Students will create their own compasses as they learn how magnets (and their natural source, magnetite) work to help find the northern direction. They will learn about magnetic declination as they view isogonic charts and learn the importance of finding the current magnetic declination for the area in which they have any serious excursions planned.  The information surrounding a USGS quadrangle map will be examined, as well as the importance of orienting a map, identifying one’s location on a map, and how to triangulate with a map and compass.  In addition, discussion of the origin and history of Earth’s magnetic field, geomagnetic reversals and potential geomagnetic hazards, and comparison to other planets in our solar system will enhance the student’s understanding of their home planet.

Students will learn the correct terminology for different parts of a Brunton Classic (made in Riverton since 1894) compass while experiencing how to adjust for magnetic declination and how to orient a map.  Considerable time will be spent identifying and calculating locations using coordinate grids.  Latitude and longitude, as well as UTM coordinates, will be used with both map and compass and hand-held Global Positioning Systems.  Students will create and follow each other’s courses in an attempt to learn the importance of accuracy in verbal descriptions and measurement.  This part of the unit will also introduce satellite technology.

The geometry of Earth will be an essential element for understanding latitude and longitude and how the Universal Transverse Mercator projection provides a metric grid upon which calculations will be made.  Students will use dimensional analysis as they work with the metric system, converting to the English system and back again as they learn to measure and average their own pace.  They will make predictions and estimations as to the length of time it will take to walk a small course.  They will test their predictions and make the necessary adjustments to improve future predictions.

Exercises will be created in a variety of landscape settings, and students will learn the history of local landscape formation as they learn to navigate through it.  These navigation and landscape exercises take place at the CWC Sinks Canyon Center (located on 127 acres, 35 miles south of the main campus) and surrounding public lands.  Landscapes in this area vary from steep cliffs, to rolling prairie and hard-rock mountains. 

This curriculum unit may also incorporate the use of the Mio 168 PDA with integrated GPS.  Topographic maps of any area in the United States can be loaded onto this device, and routes, locations and field notes can be plotted or entered directly onto the topographic map.  This devise will also be useful in future curriculum units that incorporate scientific data collection and analysis.

In addition to implementing these learning activities, we hope to describe them in such a manner that other teachers will be able to implement them with minimum effort.  This would require the creation of assessment tools that could be applied to a variety of topographic regions.