SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS

Transcription

1 SEMESTER AT SEA COURSE SYLLABUS Voyage: Fall 2013 Discipline: Astronomy Course Title: ASTR (B Days, hours) Celestial Navigation A Hands-on Tutorial Upper Division Faculty Name: George D. Nelson Pre-requisites: Algebra, Trigonometry COURSE DESCRIPTION The instructor is indebted to Dr. Phil Sadler from Harvard University for providing materials from his famous Celestial Navigation course and support in adapting the course for Semester at Sea. Navigational techniques have helped build empires, win wars, and free those with the urge, to wander the seas safely in small boats. With simple equipment, you can safely plan and complete voyages. Navigation is a practical skill. Knowledge of celestial and coastal navigation will make you a desirable guest on a sailboat or can be parlayed into access to the bridge on the largest of ships. Many navigation courses teach navigation in a cookbook fashion in which students follow a series of rather cryptic steps. This is not such a course. By the end of the semester you should not only have mastered a variety of navigational skills, but be able to explain how they work to your friends and roommates (or whoever else will listen). To teach navigation so that you can use it, explain it to others, and really understand it, the course must deal with your prior beliefs about the nature of the night sky and its motions, maps, coordinate systems, and direction-finding. It turns out that all of us have ideas about how the world works based on years of observation and interaction. Many of these ideas, however, fail to help us make accurate predictions. We spend time and effort in this course discussing what our conceptions are, whether they lead to correct predictions or not, and how to modify them if they are problematic. Keeping journals of the sky and making predictions of celestial events is a way to test our internal models against nature. The result of this way of learning is that you are more likely to reconstruct navigational techniques after a long period of dormancy. If the basic concepts are solidly implanted, the skills return quickly. Most of class time is spent in practical exercises. Because we are already on a sea voyage, this class is essentially one continuous field trip. Students work with the tools of navigation: compass, sextant, watch, charts, and drawing instruments, to solve a multitude of navigational problems. Many exercises involve finding where the observer is from making terrestrial and celestial observations. As a result, students often can themselves judge their own mastery by comparing their calculated results with their actual position. Most of the time students work in small groups, cooperating with each other to solve problems that are more difficult to solve alone. Those with more knowledge of the sky, sailing, or astronomy can contribute to their teammates learning. Many students who take Celestial Navigation will at some time in their lives have the responsibility to teach someone something, whether as a teacher, teaching fellow, parent, colleague, or supervisor. Experience in this course will not only highlight that telling is 1

2 a particularly ineffective method of teaching, but there are a multitude of methods to more effectively and painlessly to get learning to occur. The course is taught in an unconventional style. There is very little lecturing; students learn navigation through a variety of active methods. For students who prefer to put in minimal time and then cram in the requisite knowledge just before exams, this course will be a disappointment. Skills such as using a sextant, plotting on a navigational chart, or measuring the positions and motions of stars take concerted effort over a long period of time. Much like any skill that can become second nature, bicycle riding, playing a musical instrument, or still life drawing, navigation requires practice to gain proficiency. Students who miss classwork and fall behind on assignments cannot easily make up these losses by reading the textbook or asking classmates for pointers. Also, students who like to work alone will be frustrated in working with nearly every other student over the term. An important part of the course is learning from other students, in lab, working together in study groups, preparing oral presentations, and making observations. Students should prepare for each class by completing the required reading in Wright and Whitney. Students should be sufficiently familiar with any description of a technique in W&W to begin a lab on that topic. Most classes will start with a discussion of the reading, so students should be prepared to lead the group on a summary of the reading. COURSE OBJECTIVES 1. Students will understand and be able to explain the apparent motions of the sun, moon, and stars. 2. Students will be able to solve navigational problems using the tools of navigation: compass, sextant, watch, charts, navigation aids (light houses, buoys, etc.), ephemera, and drawing instruments. They will be able to determine the ship s position, measure currents, chart a course, and draw maps. 3. Students will predict and plot the ship s course throughout the semester with increasing accuracy and confidence. 4. Students will become acquainted with modern navigational techniques such as radio navigation aids and GPS. REQUIRED MATERIALS Lensatic Compass Notebook for Journal (5 x 8 or smaller) 2H, 3H mechanical pencils, eraser Parallel rule, two triangles, or rolling ruler (~$7) Drawing compass ($3 to $5) Dividers ($3-$5) REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS AUTHOR: U.S. Naval Observatory TITLE: 2013 U.S. Naval Observatory Nautical Almanac (Paperback) PUBLISHER: Skyhorse Publishing ISBN #: TBD 2

3 DATE/EDITION: 2013 AUTHOR: Whitney and Wright TITLE: Learn to Navigate by the Tutorial System Developed at Harvard PUBLISHER: Cornell Maritime Press ISBN #: DATE/EDITION: 1992/1 st edition, 3 rd printing AUTHOR: Dava Sobel TITLE: Longitude: The story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time PUBLISHER: Walker and Company ISBN-10 #: X DATE/EDITION: 2007/paperback Note: Learn to Navigate and Longitude are bundled on Amazon.com. TOPICAL OUTLINE OF COURSE Note: Readings are to be completed prior to class where they are listed. B1- August 27: Introduction to Course: Angle estimation. How are angles, size and distance related in our physical world? August 29-September 1: St. Petersburg B2-September 2: Plane table mapping. How were accurate maps made without modern technologies like GPS and without walking every inch of the terrain? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 1 and 2 Problem set #1 assigned B3- September 4: Bearings by Pelorus: How does accuracy vary with the angle between bearings? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 3 and 4 Problem set #1 due September 5-8: Hamburg B4- September 10: Cruise of the Darkfish: Introducing plotting tools, chart symbols, and basic dead reckoning. What are the differences and similarities between maps of land and charts of water environments? How are three dimensions represented into two? Journal Discussion #1: What methods are you using? What has changed? What has stayed the same? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 6 and 12 Problem set #2 assigned September 12-14: Antwerp September 15-16: Le Havre 3

4 B5- September 17: Magnetic Compass: What do we need to know in order to make magnetic compasses the most dependable navigation instrument? Problem set #2 due B6- September 19: Chart projections: How do we lay flat maps onto a spherical Earth? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 5 Problem set #3 assigned September 20-23: Dublin B7- September 25: Dead reckoning with compass and watch: How can you measure the current when you are in a fluid medium? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 8, review 6, skim 10 Problem set #3 due September 27-29: Lisbon September 30-October 1: Cadiz October 3-6: Casablanca B8- October 8: Cruise of the Ruchbach: Dear reckoning, fixes, running fixes. How does a fix differ from a running fix? The stars tonight. Problem set #4 assigned B9- October 9: Introduction to the sextant and noon curve: How does a sextant work? Why might noon curves be the basis for finding your location? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 9 and 13 and pages Using an Artificial Horizon Problem set #4 due B10- October 12: Ruckbach 2: How can we adjust our COG or SOG to compensate for effects of current, wind or other environmental factors? Journal Discussion #2: Problem set #5 assigned B11- October 14: Introduction to the Nautical Almanac: What is the meaning of the columns on the daily pages, Why is the moon more complex than the sun? Bring Nautical Almanacs to class Problem set #5 due Problem set #6 assigned October 15-18: Tema B12- October 21: Time and Nautical Almanac: Why are there time zones? How do they align with longitude? Put constellations on celestial sphere. Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 14 Problem set #6 due 4

5 B13- October 24: Midterm Exam, Hand in Journal Summaries October 26-30: Cape Town (Possible visit to South African Astronomical Observatory?) B14- November 1: Great Circle Sailing: Finding Great-Circle routes, Great-Circle Way Points Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 18 B15- November 3: Models of the sky: Does the moon ever move through the sky like the sun? Problem set #7 assigned B16- November 6: The sun s motion over time. How did the sun move through the sky today? Last month? Noon Curve Lab. including Analemma, Form and Declination Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 15 Problem set #7 due B17- November 9: Celestial sphere: In what ways does the navigator know that the sky is not just a rotating sphere carrying along all the celestial objects? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 16 and 17 Problem set #8 assigned B18- November 11: Sight reductions: What is the geographic position of the sun? How does it change? What stars are good candidates for sights tonight? Reading: Whitney and Wright: Ch. 19 and 21 Problem set # 8 due Problem set #9 assigned November 12-16: Buenos Aires B19- November 19: Sight reductions 2 Problem set #9 due Problem set #10 assigned November 20-22: Rio de Janeiro November 23-24: Transit November 25-27: Salvador B20- November 29: Celestial running fixes: How might you get a fix from only one celestial object? B21- December 1: Celestial running fixes 2 Problem set #10 due B22- December 4: Presentation of the MV Explorer s Cruise as determined by the class teams. B23- December 6: Finish Presentations: Course Review: What have we learned? Q & A 5

6 December 9-11 Havana B24- December 13: Final Exam December 16: Ft. Lauderdale FIELD Lab/Assignments This course is one big field lab that uses the ship and the cruise as the laboratory. The laboratories are the key element in this course. Students are expected to attend them all and make up any that are missed. The labs will most often occur during class time, although a few require night observations and some will be constrained by the observing goals such as making noon curves and observing sunrise and sunset. Noon observations will be scheduled for Study Days if possible. Labs and are usually worked on in teams of two or three students. Problems can be broken into manageable pieces and shared among group members, but each student should fill out his or her own lab sheet. The purpose of this group learning is that each student will learn more, not less, so it is important that everyone masters the material. During the the semester, students will work with new partners in every lab, until have worked at least once with every student in the class. Lab sessions usually end with a discussion of the group s findings. We attempt to answer remaining questions and dispel misconceptions. Students should plan on always staying for the full duration of the lab time. If one finishes early, one can start on the problem set, help another team finish up, or do some other work until the group is ready to meet. Students are expected to keep a journal of observations and thoughts about navigation during the course. Journals will be periodically reviewed by both peers and the instructor. It is expected that students make at least two detailed observations for each lab and a prediction of what they expect to see in the future. Every lab write up should include some reflection on a concept touched on in the lab or in the reading. During a month, students are expected to carry out at least: 1. Four measurements of sunrises (or sunsets). 2. Four measurements of consecutive daily observations of the Moon. 3. Four measurements of a planet against the background stars. 4. Two noon curves using a quadrant. 5. One moon curve using a quadrant. Students will be divided into teams of 7 or 8 at the beginning of the cruise with the challenge of applying the techniques they are leaning with increasing sophistication to predict and plot the ship s daily course. At the end of the semester, they will present their plotted course and logs with the course from the actual ship s log and celebrate their new skills. The presentation will be graded with the whole team receiving the same grade based on: 1. Clarity - Has the talk been rehearsed? 2. Conceptual Content - What is the depth of understanding of techniques and uncertainties? 3. Presentation - Organization of the talk - How well did the team work together? Did the team keep to the scheduled time limit? 6

7 METHODS OF EVALUATION / GRADING RUBRIC The course grade will be calculated by combining scores from the labs (25%), problem sets (20%), journal (15%), final presentation (10%), midterm exam (15%), and final exam (15%). Scores will not be curved. The table below summarizes how grades will be assigned. Total % Grade A B C D <60 F Labs will be graded individually on a ten point scale, based on the quality of the work and the full completion of the assignment. Problem sets distributed at the end of each topic lab with specific due dates will be graded on a ten point scale. Only papers that are perfect will receive the highest grade. Grades for labs and problem sets are assigned on the following basis: 10, highest quality: organized, correct, insightful 8-9, good work with minor errors or mistakes 6-7, many error, gaps, incomplete 0-5, not submitted or less than 60% correct Journals will also be graded on a ten point scale based on completeness and evidence of application of the course ideas and skills. Students who invest time and energy in keeping good journals will find the course (and the exams) much easier than those who do not keep extensive journals. In addition, there will be at least one question on the mid-term and final examination that can only be answered with information from your journal. There will be two tests, a mid-term exam and a final exam that will not be cumulative. They are open book exams. Students can bring any written materials to the tests: text, problem sets, journals, labs, etc. RESERVE LIBRARY LIST I will supply sets of navigational charts to be used during the course. ELECTRONIC COURSE MATERIALS I will supply worksheets, and other materials to be scanned and placed on the intranet for the course. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Materials: Lensatic Compass Notebook for Journal (5 x 8 or smaller) 7

8 2H, 3H mechanical pencils, eraser Parallel rule, two triangles, or rolling ruler (~$7) Drawing compass ($3 to $5) Dividers ($3-$5) HONOR CODE Semester at Sea students enroll in an academic program administered by the University of Virginia, and thus bind themselves to the University s honor code. The code prohibits all acts of lying, cheating, and stealing. Please consult the Voyager s Handbook for further explanation of what constitutes an honor offense. Each written assignment for this course must be pledged by the student as follows: On my honor as a student, I pledge that I have neither given nor received aid on this assignment. The pledge must be signed, or, in the case of an electronic file, signed [signed]. 8