Room 32

Directions and Angles

              Observing where the sun rose each morning was very important for the early Polynesian navigators.  We did some observations and predictions of our own. 

We compared the the navigational resources that early Polynesians used way back then to the modern navigational tools that have been made since.

a Polynesian compass

a Polynesian compass

a compass, magnifying glass and map

a quadrant

a sextant

a telescope

satellites used for global positioning systems (GPS)

With the thanks of YouTube we were able to make own quadrants to find out 

the angle of the sun.  Follow this link to make one of your own!

http://www.davidcolarusso.com/handouts/quadrant.pdf

 These were our findings.

We learnt to create and use a quadrant to measure the angle between the horizon and the sun.

We found some discrepancies* in our measurements and discussed what these could have been due to  

*results that were much different (higher/lower) than what most people found.

possibly because

• people were not holding the quadrant properly

• people might not have put the equipment e.g. straw or dice where it needed to go

• the wind could be blowing the dice

• people might not have read the measurement correctly/accurately.  

The class decided that those whose measurements were far off would re-try.

After the second measurements were taken we totalled all the amounts then divided the total by the number of tests taken.

This gave us the average!

Names                                           First try         Second try 

Isimas and Ethan                             29                              30    

Elijah K and James T                       30                              30

Mele and JLeigh                               30                              32

Elisa and Clara                                  30                              31

Magdalene and Jennifer                  30                              33

Anastasia and Sesilia                        32                              30

Taipisa and Jayden                          30                              33

Pelu and Elijah Mac                          30                              30

Losa and Selina                                 31                               30

Yasmine and Hope                           35                               35 

Grace and Dianne                             30                              35

Elijah M and James Jr                     30                              35

Poto and Annie                                 35                               35

Savina and May                                33                               30

Gabrielle and Israel                         30                               33

Subtotals                                      376                              390

766 divided by 28 = 31.91 is the average.

At 10 am the sun was rising from the east and was at an angle of 31.91   from the horizon.