LOOKING BACK


Purpose: To learn to return from a degree bearing and to practice following a direction.
Season: All
Description: After following a degree direction, students learn how to reverse a bearing without resetting the compass in order to return to a starting point.
Materials: Silva Polaris Type 7 Orienteering compass.
TEKS: 5.1A    5.4A,B
Procedure: 1. Identify situations in which a person would need to reverse a degree bearing and backtrack to a starting point. For example, you have left valuables behind or lost something en route.

2. Explain that reversing a direction 180° is done by pointing the direction-of-travel arrow toward you, orienting the compass to the lay of the land, and walking against the direction-of-travel arrow.

3. On the playground have students practice following a direction for several hundred feet and then return from it to the starting point. Partially cover starting points to offer students a greater challenge when returning from a bearing.

Options and Extensions: Visit a forested area and have students follow and return from a certain bearing.

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