Module 1 • Arctic Exploration: Traveling on the Land
Activity 1-4I
Head for the North Star!
Activity Level:
experience
Research Question: What is traditional knowledge?
Subject Areas:
social studies, art,
Background: Navigation is the science, technology, and under-
language art
standing of finding a position and planning and directing a course
of travel. The history of navigation can be traced to its Latin root,
Objectives:
navis, which means ship, and agrere, which means to move or direct.
Students will:
The term was used in conjunction with ships and the sea. Navigation
- Realize the value of tra-
of waterways began before recorded history. Initially, seafarers used
ditional knowledge to
landmarks, wind, and the position of the sun to plot their course.
They traveled by day and found safe harbor at night. Later on, sailors
Native culture and to
were able to navigate using stars and constellations. They used crude
explorers.
charts and practiced a rudimentary form of dead reckoning.
- Explore the role natural
phenomena such as
The native people of Chukotka navigate with the help of traditional
constellations play in
knowledge. Information pertaining to prevailing winds and their
navigation.
snowdrifts, landmarks, the rising and setting of the sun, animal
- Know seasonal variations
migration patterns, stars, and constellations are passed down from
in daylight vary with
one generation to the next.
location on earth.
There are several important stars for navigation, but the most famous
- Identify the constant
and most significant to Arctic peoples are the North Star, also called
location of Polaris.
Polaris, and the Southern Cross. The North Star is part of the con-
- Be introduced to the
stellation Ursa Minor (the Little Dipper). Always set in the night mechanics of a traditional
sky above the earth’s magnetic north, the North Star appears to be
method of transportation.
circled by all other stars and constellations— a trick of the earth’s
rotation. The Chukchi call the North Star Ilu’k-e’ñer (motionless star),
Time Consideration:
Älqe’peñer (nail star), or Unp-e’ñer (the pole stuck star). The latter is 1-2 45-minute periods
used throughout Asia. It suggest all other stars moving around the
North Star as reindeer or horses move around a pole to which they
Materials:
are tethered. The North Star is especially important for navigation
- Teacher Notes 1-4a
during the wintertime when the high Arctic experiences twenty-four “Sleds & Dogs”
hours of darkness each day.
- Teacher Notes 1-4b
“Native Compass.”
- Teacher Notes 1-4c
Additional Resources:
“North Star”
- Student Page 1-4
http://www.nps.gov/webrangers/medium/tour2/darksky/index.
“Sky Maps”
html The Case of the Disappearing Dark Sky – Interactive
game activity from the National Park Service.
- Computer and Internet
access
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/con-
- Collaboration Zone 01:
tent/investigations/es0405/es0405page05.cfm?chapter_
Observations
no=investigation Sun Dials – This animation shows how the
shadow of a simple sun dial changes through a day.
Vocabulary
Navigation by NASA – A very good, brief movie on naviga-
north, navigation, gee,
tion from the days of the Vikings including great detail on
haw, whoa, lead dog,
the North Star. Highly recommended as a tie-in. Available in
midnight sun, constellation,
Classroom Movies in the Scrap Book of the Explore section at latitude, longitude
PolarHusky.com
Continued on page 18
PolarHusky.com
© NOMADS Online Classroom Expeditions GoNorth! Chukotka 2007 Curriculum 17
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