10 OVER THE BOW - Spring 2016
his past fall, an interesting new
collaboration between Flotilla 24-03 and
the Milford Public Schools began when Meghan Kim, a math enrichment teacher at all three middle schools, approached our Public Education Officer Steve Perrone. While spending time with family in Maine, she had observed her Dad working on a navigation course. Looking for ways to add real life applications to her students’ math lessons, she wondered if the local Coast Guard Auxiliary could offer similar instruction in Milford.
Steve has taught "Nav Class" to innumerable adults over the years, and used to teach math in a vocational school setting himself. He contacted me, as a career public school educator and teacher within the Flotilla, and proposed that we undertake the project.
We interviewed Ms Kim to learn more about her students’ prior knowledge to familiarize ourselves with the type of curriculum they are
involved in. I sat in on a couple of classes to get a feel for learning styles and approaches. Steve then customized the specifics of the course to optimize the two 2-½ hour sessions that we would have with each group of students.
We built on students’ knowledge of latitude and longitude, as well as prior map reading that they had done, to prepare them to read charts. In addition, we added background knowledge about the history of the development of longitude.
Ms Kim organized a field trip to Mystic Seaport where her students would view a special exhibit on loan from the British National Maritime Museum, which is just next door to the Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, England. All of these elements made for a highly enriching experience for the students.
To date, we have taught two classes at East Shore and four classes at West Shore Middle Schools, reaching 65 students. Harborside is scheduled for three classes in April. In addition, Ms Kim and the school administrators have indicated a desire to continue the program into the 2016-2017 academic year.
T
Milford, Connecticut
Nav Class for
Middle School
Text and Photos
Karen Lowe, Flotilla 24-03
Karen