Celestial Navigation in Grade 6

An article in The New York Times this morning made me want to update a post I wrote back in 2020. Here are some notes on teaching Astronomy & Celestial Nativagion in grade 6:

Ancient Shipwreck Preserves a Deep Bronze Age Time Capsule

I recommend doing a main lesson block on Oceania in 6th grade, combining it with the existing Astronomy block done in Waldorf education, and tying in the celestial navigation skills of the peoples of Polynesia and Micronesia.

(My World Geography and Waldorf Education post gives the full scope & sequence of World Geography grade-by-grade.)

Geometry and Geology, both studied in Grade 6, tie in a LOT with this, so I'm feeling confident about the topic suiting this year developmentally.

Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs

The Night Sky Book: An Everyday Guide to Every Night
by Jamie Jobb

Astronomy for Kids: How to Explore Outer Space
with Binoculars, a Telescope, or Just Your Eyes!
by Dr. Bruce Betts

I have not found much for children specifically on Celestial Navigation, so Waldorf teachers would have to do what Steiner, in fact, suggested we should be doing all of the time. Which is to put away the Kovacs read and research on OUR OWN and write our own stories to tell our class! And Maria Montessori actually said the same thing about the Five Great Lessons.

I, like everyone else in education, do not have the time and energy to research everything from scratch for every block I teach, but for this one I think it will definitely be worth it!

Children's books on this topic by James Rumford:

Island Below the Star: How the First People Came to Hawai'i

A Gift from the Past

Lesson plans and more kid-friendly explanations:

• Driftwood Cartography by National Geographic
• Marshallese Stick Chart (PDF) by National Geographic

  Micronesian stick charts show wave patterns and currents. The shells represent atolls and islands. Using stick charts (also called rebbelibs, medos, and mattangs) ancient mariners successfully navigated thousands of miles of the South Pacific Ocean without compasses, astrolabes, or other mechanical devices.

• How far they’ll go: Moana shows the power of Polynesian celestial navigation
• Wayfinding and Navigation from the "Exploring Our Fluid Earth" website by the University of Hawai'i

Here are some resources for adults & background information:

Sky Phenomena: A Guide to Naked-Eye Observation of the Stars
by Norman Davidson

Traditional Celestial Navigation Before 1400
quick overview by Rice University

Vaka Moana, Voyages of the Ancestors: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific
by K.R. Howe

Polynesian Interconnections: Samoa to Tahiti to Hawaii
by Peter Leiataua Ahching

Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia
by Christina Thompson (audiobook)

So that's all I have so far!

It does make me think that reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch would be an excellent idea. First of all, it's a Newbery winner. And, second of all, it's about an expert in celestial navigation (the link is to his bio on the National Maritime Historical Society's "Sea History for Kids" website, which is great)!

Luckily Geometry happens in sixth grade, so you can talk about angles and sextants and octants. Since the sextant and octant are reflecting instruments, that ties in with sixth grade Physics! All making me think this block should fall at the END of the year, perhaps even in the Summer between grades 6 and 7! It is nice to stay up in the summer and stargaze. And homeschoolers have that luxury!

Studying the tools that navigators used in the 1800s, and understanding how they work, will help students see how remarkable it was that Ancient People could navigate with confidence on long voyages without them!

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