Nancy Knapp and Mary Callahan’s  5th graders at Orcas Elementary School have been studying electricity with the high school physics teacher as part of a program implemented by Principal Kyle Freeman.

The students have moved from studying static electricity to building small electric motors.  In the process they got sidetracked by magnetism and compasses, which led them to map reading. What better place to study map reading than the small gem of a state park just off the Orcas Island’s north shore?

Students studied topographic maps of Sucia Island and planned an all day outing, which took place on May 22.  Thanks to Beau Brandow at Outer Island Expeditions who only charged 1/3 his normal rate, 26 students and 10 parents and staff rode out to Sucia to spend the day on an all-island, eight-mile digital scavenger hunt. The digital scavenger hunt consisted of finding specific locations on the map and photographing the group at the spot – but the direction the camera was to face, and the landmarks in the background were part of the hunt.

The trip afforded the opportunity for students to see the difference between looking at the map in the classroom and navigating with a compass in the real world. Getting lost can be the best way to appreciate how to use a map and what better place to get lost than Sucia. Students divided into groups of five or six and with a chaperone or two, they headed off on their scavenger hunt.  Each group had a different order of places to visit so students would only occasionally run into their peers in the other groups.  After trekking up to eight miles, students had a campfire meal, and hunted for fossils or went out paddling in the solar powered Umiak boat that was built last year by the high school applied physics class.

“This trip was a great chance to take advantage of our local environs, and learn things in a way that cannot be done in the classroom,” Applied Physics Instructor Brett McFarland said.”A trip like this is possible because we get such great support from parents, community, and administrators.”