Spacebase Atlas - a 4th Grade Program
SPACEBASE Atlas builds the foundations for spatial literacy; this includes reading maps, plotting a course on a grid, determining cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, measuring distance, and navigating using a compass. Students come to understand a map is a visual representation of an area.
All spatial skill sets the students learn are framed within The Mission:
The Mission is the SPACEBASE satellite is broken. Once students arrive at SPACEBASE Atlas they immediately become Intelligence Officers. Each day they learn new spatial skills which enable them to identify and obtain new intelligence by reading satellite images. As they gather information, the goal is to determine what the secret installation is and where it is located. If the team of Intelligence Officers is successful, they will rise in SPACEBASE rank!
Each student receives a blue t-shirt and writes their 'call sign' on the t-shirt. They will be known by that 'call sign' for the five days they come to SPACEBASE Atlas. Each 'call sign' is based on an explorer or someone who played a key role in Virginia History.
Spatial skill sets the students will acquire
Direction
Students learn how to read a compass. This includes cardinal and inter-cardinal directions, as well as directional degrees.
The first assignment for the Intelligence Officers is to obtain updated intelligence from an operative who can provide current satellite images of the installation we have concerns about. The satellite images have been hidden inside a locked box called a cache. Students are given directional instructions and a compass to navigate a grid in hopes of locating the updated intelligence. When they navigate the grid correctly, they will obtain the correct sequence of numbers to unlock the locked cache.
Intelligence Officers create a map using the software program Neighborhood Map Machine reinforcing the skill-set directional degrees and how to read a grid.
Spatial Skills - Distance and Scale
Distance can be calculated using traditional and nontraditional measuring devices.
The challenge for an elite Intelligence Officer involved with interpreting maps is to determine distance. An Intelligence Officer preparing and reading Top Secret maps or any maps needs to be good at determining distances.
Students are challenged to measure the length of a football field using both nontraditional and traditional methods.
Nontraditional:
- Stride: Each student calculates their stride which is the distance covered in each step. They do this calculation three times to determine their average stride step. Students calculate the number of steps needed to travel the length of a football field and then pace the football field off to prove their calculations.
- Trip Odometer: On the GPS units there is a trip odometer feature. It measures distance traveled. Students are introduced to the features on a GPS unit and outside they measure the length of the football field using the trip odometer.
- Trundle Wheel: Every time the wheel completes one full revolution it records one foot. The team uses the trundle wheel to measure the length of a football field.
Traditional:
- Tape Measure: a widely recognized method of accurately measuring distance. A football field is 100 yards or 300 feet.
The Intelligence Officers interpret the data to determine which of the three nontraditional measuring devices is the most accurate and least accurate compared to the traditional measuring device (tape measure). Sources of error will be explored, for example did the student walk straight or did they forget their number of strides needed for 100 yards?
Spatial Skill - Navigation
Spatial Skill - Cartography
