There I was; motivated once again. This time we started the Navigation chapter…
I got there on time so I had some minutes to socialize a bit and it felt amazing that everyone is thrilled to be there; I guess that helps the morals (is like, you don’t feel so crazy anymore).
The professor handed me a special tool that we all need to have… is called the “Fight computer”. Sounds like a software equipment but is more like a fancy ruler/chart. Thought I can say that you feel a bit more professional once you have it in your hands (ha!). With this flight computer, we are supposed to have results for equations faster and in an easy way. It’s basically a convertor of units e.g. Liters to gallons, km to m, etc. It’s a bit tricky to learn to use it, but once you find your way around, you feel invincibleJ.
The Navigation chapter is a combination of Geography (back in middle school), Physics and Geometry –It should definitely be integrated in the lifelong learning curriculum for schools; students will appreciate to have a fun reason to learn all that!- I felt some kind of a pleasure by applying all that knowledge that seemed useless for so long… my brain experienced that satisfaction of completeness; putting in perspective the shape and movement of the Earth… why we have more sun some days in the year?; applying knowledge on the Equator, Meridian and Parallel circles.
As part of the millennial generation; I remember the transition into technology. My teenage years were about discovering the computer, coding (If you even had a Myspace account-thanks to Tom; our first friend), internet, etc. I mean, I remember how to use Radio frequencies for communication… road charts to get somewhere (maps). Technology has facilitated us all these things; now we have user friendly guides, builders for sites, and GPS to go anywhere; but, do we understand how it works, the basics of all of that?
We had a beautiful review on how geographic coordinates work and I must said that I’ve learned new things for sure, understanding fully the latitude and longitude. It feels great! Celsius and Fahrenheit, based on what? 😉 –exactly- Chart distance vs. Real distance… what about chart projections? We use the typical Mercator but by now we all know that isn’t accurate thought it still plays a huge part on the education system; we should correct it sooner than later please! Region, Projection and Scale! Right.
As that song would say; Love in the brain.
LIDIA AVILES 