EarthRef.org Digital Archive (ERDA) -- A Week of Science at Sea: Day 3: Sampling the water column: Finding your position at sea

Description
This lesson introduces students to concepts of the global geoid, the basic form of the world latitude and longitude grid, and how to express and find a location using this system. Students will also be introduced to calculations of distances between two locations.
Note that this is the third lesson in a series of five lessons with accompanying videos, collectively entitled "A Week at Sea Aboard the Research Vessel Melville." The video for today is called "The Water Column" and can be found in a low-resolution version at this link http://calechoes.wordpress.com/video/. This video is most appropriate, but not required, if watched before beginning the exercise, as it introduces the concept of location at sea. There is a second video for today that discusses the in-class exercise, and more detail of the mechanics of finding latitude and longitude. It is located at the same site, and is called "Latitude and Longitude." Before watching the second video, put the charts (maps), straightedges, and markers or pencils on the desks with the students. Following both videos, solicit student questions, and then begin the exercise below.