103 - Map & Compass

Note: It is best to do this session on a campout where scouts can actually practice the skills. Do the discovery experience on Friday night, the directions during the day throughout Saturday, and the final Directions during night Saturday night.

Learning Objectives

As a result of this experience, each participant should be able to:

• Complete advancement requirement S3d.
• Tell directions during the day and night in several ways without a compass.
• Review and practice skills from Map and Compass I and II

Material Required

• Compass (to give the right answer).
• Sticks and materials for various methods.
• Constellation finder.

Discovery

Have scouts look around. Can they tell which way is north? How do they know--what method are they using? Use the compass to confirm their findings.

Teaching-Learning

1. Setup: Choose several methods to demonstrate to scouts. Teach them these. Some may require waiting time so start these early in the day and work on other things in between times.
2. Directions during the day.
   1. Watch method (Analog Only).
      • Hold your watch flat
      • Place a short twig upright against the edge of the watch at the point of the hour hand.
      • Turn the watch until the shadow of the twig falls exactly along the hour hand.
      • A line from the center of the watch dividing in half the angle between the hour hand and the numeral 12 will point south.
   2. Shadow stick method.
      • Push a short, straight stick in the ground.
      • Angle it toward the sun so that it creates no shadow.
      • Wait until it casts a shadow 6 inches long. The shadow will be pointing East.
   3. Equal Length shadow method.
      • In the morning, push a 3 foot staff upright into the ground.
      • Tie a string around the bottom and extend the string to the end of the staff’s shadow.
      • Tie a peg to the string at that point and use it to make a circle around the staff.
      • Push the peg into the circle at the place where the staff’s shadow meets it.
      • In the afternoon, place another peg where the tip of the staff’s shadow again touches the circle. A straight line between the pegs is a West-East line with West at the morning peg.
3. Directions at night
   1. The north star.
      • First, locate the north star using the Big Dipper.
      • Push a stick into the ground about 2 foot high.
      • Use a shorter stick in such a way as to sight over the tops of both to the North Star.
      • The line created by the sticks (shorter to longer) will point north.
   2. When you can only see one star.
      1. Mark the location of the star in the sky with a landmark or the stick method mentioned above for the north star. Preferably, this star would be along the horizon.
      2. In 1 to 2 hours observe the star again. You will now be able to tell the direction pointed to by the sticks.
         • If the star has rose, that direction is East
         • If the star has set, that direction is West.
         • If the star has moved to the left, that direction is North
         • If the star has moved to the right, that direction is South.
   3. Constellation Method. There are many constellations in the sky. These move in a predictable way throughout the various seasons. If you know the constellation, you can tell directions from where they are in the sky, given the season and time. This is easily demonstrated using a wheel type Star Gazer or Constellation Finder.
   4. The methods used during the day with the sun will also work at night with the moon.

Application

Scouts should construct and use one or more of the methods for finding directions that were not demonstrated. This could be made into an individual contest to see which scout can get the most accurate North-South or East-West line as checked with the compass.

Resources