Activity (Hands-On)Grades 6 - 8
Find Your Own Direction
Students create their own simple compasses using thread, needle and water in a bowl — and learn how it works.
Students create compassesCopyright NASA http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/home/index.html
Engineers put careful thought into designing compasses that are accurate, precise, durable and inexpensive. To accomplish this, they must thoroughly understand the orientation and strength of the Earth's magnetic field. Scientific concepts such as magnetic declination are important to engineers who design digital compasses that compensate for this effect.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain that a compass is a tool of measurement that shows direction.
- Describe how a compass works.
- Explain that engineers use and develop compasses.
- Explain the relationship between navigation technology and other fields of study (that is, magnetic declination).