Britannia Rule the Waves

TL;DR

This educational paper introduces students to navigation and the longitude problem, using visual tools and historical context to teach how longitude can be determined from time measurements, exemplified through James Cook's voyage.

Contribution

It presents a two-step educational approach combining visualisation and historical navigation to teach the longitude problem.

Findings

Students understand longitude determination from time measurements.

Interactive Longitude Clock enhances learning of navigation math.

Historical voyage plotting contextualizes the scientific concept.

Abstract

The students are introduced to navigation in general and the longitude problem in particular. A few videos provide insight into scientific and historical facts related to the issue. Then, the students learn in two steps how longitude can be derived from time measurements. They first build a Longitude Clock that visualises the math behind the concept. They use it to determine the longitudes corresponding to five time measurements. In the second step, they assume the position of James Cook's navigator and plot the location of seven destinations on Cook's second voyage between 1772 and 1775.