Yesterday the students got to see and explore the dunes and Lake Michigan – some for the first time. Today we put them to work mapping areas around the dunes.

In the morning, we reviewed map basics and the students learned how to use the length of their stride to measure distances on the ground. They also learned how to use GPS units to determine latitude, longitude, and elevation.

We travelled to the base of the dune climb where students were given an aerial image of Sleeping Bear Dunes and needed to put information on it to make it a useable map. This included a title, scale bar, latitude, longitude, and elevations. To create a scale bar from only an image, the students used their stride length (calculated earlier in the day) to measure the actual distance of the road, then measured the same distance on the map. Using these two numbers, they were able to determine an accurate scale for our image. They used the GPS units to add latitude, longitude, and elevation.

After this, the group climbed up the very steep and very challenging “Dune Climb”. Here are a few videos:

After lunch, we headed to Sleeping Bear Point to map the beach and create beach profiles – essentially a map of the bottom of the lake as viewed from the side. Students were in the water taking measurements of depth and “distance from shore”.

After this, it was free time on the beach and our Last-Night-Of-Camp bonfire. The students turned the tables and decided to teach the instructors something – the Nene Dance. You can see the results of this “lesson” here:

It was our last night of Earth Camp and we let the students know what an amazing group they all were. All of the staff were incredibly impressed with their effort, teamwork, knowledge, and excitement.