Lesson 2: Compass Directions — North, South, East, West... and Beyond!
Learning all eight compass directions and using them to describe animal-to-animal routes at Hamilton Zoo — building the language of spatial reasoning.
🎯 Ngā Whāinga Akoranga | Learning Intentions
All eight compass directions (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW); how to use compass directions to describe routes; how Polynesian navigators used star compasses (kāpehu whetū) as the original coordinate system.
Use all eight compass directions to describe three routes between zoo enclosures; read compass direction clues to find mystery animals.
🎥 Media Anchor & Mathematical Scaffold
Compass Directions — All Eight Points
Video Anchor: Mathematical reasoning and spatial thinking in real-world contexts (Runtime: 0:00-1:57).
🧠 1. Get Ready
Which direction is North in THIS room? How do you know? (Look for clues — windows facing sun, signs, your phone compass.) Now — if the kiwi house is to your North and the lion enclosure is to your East, what direction are the lions from the kiwi?
👁️ 2. Key Ideas to Cover
This lesson runs as a discussion and map task — no video is required. If your class has one you like on compass directions (5–10 min), it fits well as an optional opener before the task below.
🗣️ 3. Kaiako Move
Kaiako Move: Use a real compass in the classroom — students identify North. Then take the class outside and practise identifying the eight compass directions relative to the school grounds before applying to the zoo map.
Task: Direction Detective: Using the zoo map, write directions from five different starting animals to ending animals using compass terms. Challenge: can you create a route using all eight directions?
⚡ Whakaoho | Do Now (5 mins)
Stand up and face North (use your phone compass or classroom orientation). Now face: NE, SW, W, SE. Sit down when you can identify all eight directions without help.
📐 Activity 1: Guided Mathematical Exploration (25 mins)
Compass direction race — kaiako calls out a starting point (e.g., 'you're at the lion enclosure') and a direction (e.g., 'travel NW'). Students race to identify which animal they'd reach. Most correct answers wins.
✍️ Activity 2: Application & Reflection (20 mins)
Route writing: write a 5-step compass direction route from the zoo entrance to the far end. Swap routes with a partner — can they follow your directions to the correct final animal?
🏫 Kaiako Planning & Pedagogy Notes
Curriculum Alignment: Te Mātaiaho Mathematics Phase 2 — Geometry: use compass directions to describe position and movement; connect to Pacific navigation traditions.
Hamilton Zoo Context: Tasks are set at Hamilton Zoo as a familiar shared context. The grid, the distances and the routes in these lessons are teaching constructions, not surveyed zoo data — there is no zoo map supplied with this unit. If you want ākonga working from the real layout, bring the zoo's own visitor map to the lesson and say plainly that you are swapping the constructed grid for a real one.
Cultural Connection: Connect coordinate navigation to traditional Polynesian wayfinding — stars as coordinate systems, waka routes as vectors, mauri/kaitiakitanga of animal species at the zoo.