1. MAP AND CHART

2. CHARTING THE GREAT WINDS

3. RIDING THE WIND

4. THE MAP CARTOUCHE

5. THE GULF STREAM

6. CHART MAKING FOR NAVIGATORS

7. HURRICANES

8. PROFILES

9. CHARTING NEPTUNE’S REALM

10. SURFACE CURRENTS

11. DENSITY CURRENTS

12. CURRENT AND CLIMATE

13. HUMAN INTERACTION

14. DEFINING THE EARTH

15. LATITUDE

16. LONGITUDE

17. COMPASS DEVIATION

Osher Map Library
University of Southern Maine

An exhibition at the Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education, University of Southern Maine, Portland, 4 April 2000 to 11 January 2001

Donald S. Johnson, guest curator

Lessons Index

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Elementary/Middle School Lessons:

1. MAP AND CHART
Lenora Liebowitz, Peter Rice, Andy Alley

Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:

• List, define and describe the characteristics of a chart
• List, define and describe the characteristics of a map

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, the students will be able to:

• Describe a wind chart in terms of its history and function
• Explain the origins of wind heads
• Draw a chart using faces to depict the eight different wind directions

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, the students will be able to:

• Explain the impact of the rotation of the earth (Coriolis Effect/Coriolis force) on prevailing winds
• Locate the Trade Winds, Westerlies and Polar Easterlies correctly on a map
• Plot the best route for a sailing ship for a voyage from New York to London to New York

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, students will be able to:

• Explain the cultural knowledge that can be gained by examining a cartouche
• Draw a cartouche of their own design based on the examples they are given

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction the students will be able to:

• Describe the Gulf Stream in terms of (speed, direction, temperature)
• Explain why the Gulf Stream follows the path it does
• Explain how Benjamin Franklin charted the Gulf Stream
• Given temperature readings and coordinates students will correctly plot the Gulf Stream on a map

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• List and define the characteristics of a nautical chart
• Generate a chart of their own that has been deduced through the soundings of a representative model

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, the student will be able to:

• Explain the causes for the formation of a hurricane
• Predict the track of a hurricane based on current, plotted location

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, the student will be able to:

• Define a nautical profile
• Describe the use of a profile for navigation
• Draw one or more profiles for navigation in the local area

9. CHARTING NEPTUNE'S REALM
Lenora Liebowitz, Peter Rice, Andy Alley

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, students will be able to:

• Name the major figures in the print and tell who they are and how they relate to the other figures
• Design an appropriate frontispiece (book cover) for a nautical publication

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• Define an ocean current
• Identify five major currents throughout the world
• Use sea surface temperatures to identify a current
• Identify the correlation between ocean circulation and prevailing winds by matching an ocean current with a prevailing wind

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• Calculate density
• Define density current and thermohaline circulation
• Identify where in our oceans we find the most dense water
• Create density layers
• Explain why density currents occur and why they are important to us

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• Identify major ocean currents
• Predict the climatological impact of currents on local climates

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• Recognize what information nautical charts provide and how that information is provided
• Recognize the strategic, historical value to nation-states of the information found on nautical charts

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block students will be able to:

• List the information nautical charts provide and explain how that information is provided
• Evaluate nautical charts by comparing and contrasting one with another according to the categories of information provided and the quality of that information
• Explain the development of early efforts to chart "where the winds blow" into the present grid system whereby any point on the earth's surface can be located

Learning Objectives:
At the end of this block of instruction, the student will be able to:

• Describe the theory for determining latitude
• Describe at least three instruments used in the determining of latitude
• Develop 'Astronomical Tables' for the determining of latitude in the classroom

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, students will be able to:

• Define longitude
• Calculate the longitude of their location

Learning Objectives
At the end of this block of instruction, students will be able to:

• Define compass deviation
• Calculate the difference between compass north and true north
• Plot an example of the difference in variation by location