KS3/4 Maths - Bearings

Description

Mathagony Aunt Wendy Fortescue-Hubbard gets a letter asking for suggestions about teaching bearings to all-ability Key Stage 3 pupils. She visits Coombe Dean School in Plymouth and shows that the topic of bearings is ideal for taking pupils out of the classroom and letting them explore.

The programme takes a trip out to sea to show how bearings are used in the real world and Wendy demonstrates an early Chinese "nail compass" that pupils could easily make.

The teaching sessions start with some revision of compass points, before pupils go out into the school grounds to follow a "treasure hunt" route around school using a hand compass and their knowledge of the main compass points. We then see higher-ability pupils tackle the same task using full three-figure bearings.

Part of the series: School Matters