One of the most important yet often overlooked uses of water is as a method of transportation or, navigation. Presents an activity to help students understand the importance of water as a critical, renewable, and natural resource for navigational use. Lists the learning objective, materials, and procedure for the activity. Also includes a foldout.…

Examined the effects of different text typologies on older users' (age 57-67) performance in hypertext perusal. Compared two text typologies, hierarchical and referential, that were constructed with HTML, and discusses hypertext navigation problems with older users related to human spatial orientation. (Author/LRW)

Assessed the cognitive processing that takes place in virtual environments by measuring electrical brain activity using Fast Fourier Transform analysis. University students performed the same task in a real and a virtual environment, and eye movement measurements showed that all subjects were more attentive when navigating in the virtual world.…

Discusses data exchange over the Internet and describes the architecture and implementation of an XML document repository that promotes a navigation paradigm for XML documents based on content and context. Topics include information retrieval and semistructured documents; and file systems as information storage infrastructure, particularly XMLFS.…

In 3 experiments, the authors examined how misalignment of egocentric and exocentric reference frames affects cardinal direction judgments. Experiments 1 and 2 demonstrated large differences in the accuracy and speed with which 104 less experienced and 7 experienced navigators made cardinal direction judgments. Reference-frame misalignment was…

Humans rely on internal representations to solve a variety of spatial problems including navigation. Navigation employs specific information to compose a representation of space that is distinct from that obtained through static bird's-eye or horizontal perspectives. The ability to point to on-route locations, off-route locations, and the route…

This article describes an outdoor activity known as orienteering, the practice of using a map and a compass to find points in a landscape. Downloadable materials, courtesy of The Roger Tory Peterson Institute, can be found on www.TeachingK-8.com. These materials include instructions for the activity and reproducible illustrations of seven basic…

A global satellite navigation system based on the use of time in measurements of speed, distance, and location is described and explained. (DT)

This report describes a study to determine the effect of training on accuracy in estimating angles. The study was part of a research program directed toward improving navigation techniques for low-level flight in Army aircraft and was made to assess the feasibility of visually estimating angles on a map in order to determine angles of drift.…

This curriculum guide for a beginning course on marine navigation describes marine navigation (the art of and science of determining position of a ship and its movement from one position to another in order to keep track of where the ship is and where it is going) and defines dead reckoning, piloting, electronic navigation, and celestial…

Describes two database systems in a law enforcement agency: one is a legacy, text-based system with cumbersome navigation; the newer system is a graphical user interface with simplified navigation. Discusses results of two user studies that showed personnel preferred the older more familiar system and considers implications for system design and…

Examined the ability of 144 children of 6 and 12 years to respond to instructions to use environmental landmarks when leading the way. Children who were told they would lead the way did not prepare more adequately than children who were not told. Children did benefit from instructions to attend to environmental features. (RJC)

Describes WebClass, a system that allows Web users to create personalized conceptual data that is dynamically merged with original HTML source by a proxy server. Explains the creation of alternative views of Web pages, data modeling, and navigation; and describes two possible applications of the system, annotation and indexing. (Author/LRW)

Examines the role of virtual environments as conceptual learning tools in science at the United Kingdom Open University and the notion of presence, or reality. Interviews with competent computer users about their feelings of presence when using virtual environments indicate that audio feedback and ease of navigation are important. (Author/LRW)

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) mathematicians have discovered how certain insects can climb what to them are steep, slippery slopes in the water's surface without moving their limbs, and do it at high speed. Welcome to the world of the tiny creatures that live on the surface of ponds, lakes, and other standing bodies of water. For the…