International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 2

Number 3

September 2008

285

MAAPCNIA: A Boost to Authentic MET

Instruction

A. Baylon & D. Torres Jr

Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific, Bataan, Philippines

ABSTRACT: This paper presents an innovation in teaching strategy in one major subject in the Maritime

Education and Training (MET) program of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific (MAAP). This

strategy makes use of an instructional aid called MAAPCNIA (MAAP Celestial Navigation Instructional

Aid), conceptualized and designed by Capt. Daniel S. Torres, Jr. MAAPCNIA encompasses color-coded

spheres that depict navigational triangle. This triangle is composed of a blue celestial sphere representing

horizon system of coordinates and a white sphere enclosing a globe characterizing time diagram and celestial

equator and terrestrial systems of coordinates. With this instrument, celestial spheres can be easily visualized

compared when using one-dimensional drawing. Hence, understanding of orthographic projection, which is

essentially the core of appreciation and mastery of this tough subject, is enhanced. This paper focuses on the

development and impact of MAAPCNIA since its conception in 2004, towards authentic teaching-learning

process in Celestial Navigation.

1 AUTHENTIC INSTRUCTION:

THE CHALLENGE IN MET

The increasing demand for competent marine

officers in the world fleet greatly relies on the quality

of Maritime Education and Training (MET). During

the 3

LSM Conference in 1999, Dr. M. Aziz

presented his concepts in MET. In his presentation,

he stressed that “investment in human resources are

based on two main elements, education and training.

Education nowadays is concerned with change, as

the environment is constantly challenged with the

problems of obsolescence. Education is understood

to be the process of cultivating intellectual power by

imparting knowledge and developing the mind. The

process of training could be identified as the activity

for acquiring specialized skill to perform certain

work or tasks, through instruction and practice. In

other words, training can be identified as the process

of teaching skills. The correlation between education

and training deals with the interrelationship between

knowledge and skill. Education directly deals with

knowledge, and training deals with the skills. The

careful blending of education and training is the best

way to achieve objectives.”

Chugani (1997) stated that “just as anything else,

for survival, an educational programme has to be

dynamic and evolutionary. In a vast ocean of

unknown, an individual needs guidance, but with

liberty to roam, explore and to challenge the most

established theories, concepts, and practices to

ensure one’s place in an unending race for

excellence.” He said that the only barrier is

resistance to change. Nevertheless, educational

research and development is gaining popularity in

the academe, to include MET, because of its evident

effectiveness in bridging the gap between research

and classroom practice and in its emphasis upon

scientific evaluation. This is one of the commitments

of the Maritime Academy of Asia and the Pacific

(MAAP), to support and promote quality and

excellence in MET. Towards this end, members of

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the academe are progressing towards better teaching

methods and strategies and interactive materials that

would facilitate learning among students and boost

authentic instruction, hence, bringing about

educational change.

Realizing the significance of Research and

Educational Development, a senior lecturer and

master mariner conceptualized an instructional aid to

enhance teaching and learning in the subject -

Celestial Navigation, which is essentially one of the

core subjects in the Bachelor of Science in Marine

Transportation (BSMT) curriculum. This paper

presents the conceptualization, design, composition,

and impact of this teaching aid in celestial

navigation called MAAPCNIA.

2 THE CELESTIAL NAVIGATION SUBJECT

Celestial Navigation is one of the six basic types or

methods of navigation that enhances a mariner’s

ability to complete his voyage safely and

expeditiously. It involves the study of heavenly

bodies to aid mariners in fixing their position at sea.

It includes reading celestial measurements to lines of

positions using tables, spherical trigonometry and

almanacs. It is used primarily as a backup to satellite

and other electronic systems in the open ocean.

Because of the importance of this subject, an

instructional aid is designed for the students to

understand computations derived from various

formulas rather than just memorize these measures

without an in-depth comprehension of the subject.

Celestial Navigation encompasses the following

concepts: (1) Navigational Astronomy, (2) Navi-

gational Mathematics for the basic formulas used in

celestial navigation, and; (3) Navigational triangle.

Celestial bodies are in constant motion; no fixed

position in space from which one can observe

absolute motion. Since all motion is relative, the

position of an observer must be noted when

discussing planetary motion. From the earth,

apparent motions of celestial bodies on the celestial

sphere are observed. In considering how planets

follow their orbits around the sun, a hypothetical

observer at some distant point in space is assumed.

When discussing the rising or setting of a body on a

local horizon, observer is located at a particular

point on the earth because the setting sun for one

observer may be the rising sun for another. Motion

on the celestial sphere results from the motions in

space of both the celestial body and the earth.

Without special instruments, motions toward and

away from the earth cannot be discerned.

On board, a mariner need a compass to know the

North, South, West and East point of the horizon to

direct his vessel to its destination. But to determine

ones position using the sun and the star, a seafarer

must also know its geographical position or its

coordinates. This is essentially the point in studying

the coordinate systems. Coordinate System in

Celestial Navigation involves the Horizon and the

Celestial Equator. Bowditch (1999) provides a

comprehensive and technical detail on celestial

navigation subject.

3 MAAPCNIA AS AN AID IN INSTRUCTION

Concepts in Celestial Navigation are mathematically

oriented and complex. The key to total

understanding this subject is comprehension of

orthographic projection. However, students have

difficulty in grasping and retaining tough three-

dimensional information when presented using a

one-dimensional space. Students are hard up in

coping with the lessons because they are having

difficulty in visualizing or imagining what is there to

learn or to compute. Chances of failure in this

subject is high because the very essential topic,

orthographic projection, in the mastery of this

subject is not well appreciated and understood. This

problem had led one of the senior maritime lecturers

in the academy to devise an instrument that would

improve teaching-and-learning processes in the

class.

Fig. 1. Celestial Sphere

The instructional tool designed for teaching

concepts of navigation is called MAAP Celestial

Navigation Instructional Aid or MAAPCNIA. This

was conceptualized and designed by Capt. Daniel S.

Torres, Jr. in 2004 out of his passion and best

intention to improve teaching methodologies and

strategies, and enhance understanding and

appreciation of the subject, thus preparing students

to be competent deck officers in the future. With

this tool, deck students can be able to gauge what

they have learned in the lecture and show their

progress through an interactive activity and feedback

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method. As one adage says “What I can see and hear

--- I can soon forget, but what I can do now with my

hand is mine.” The tool is so simple, versatile and

inexpensive. Its construction only takes a week but

its benefit in education is very substantial.

Essentially, the instructional aid is useful in

teaching concepts of celestial spheres. Celestial

sphere is an imaginary sphere of infinite radius

concentric with the earth, on which all celestial

bodies except the earth are imagined to be projected.

The North and South celestial poles of this sphere

are located by extension of the earth’s axis. The

celestial equator is formed by projecting the plane of

the earth’s equator to the celestial sphere. The

celestial meridian is formed by the intersection of

the plane of a terrestrial meridian and the celestial

sphere. It is the arc of a great circle through the poles

of the celestial sphere. The point of the celestial

sphere vertically overhead of an observer is the

zenith, and the point on the opposite side of the

sphere vertically below him is the nadir. The zenith

and nadir are the extremities of a diameter of the

celestial sphere through the observer and the

common center of the earth and the celestial sphere

(Figure 1).

There are two major parts of the instructional

tool: the blue Celestial Sphere (Figure 2) and the

white Celestial Sphere enclosing a globe in its center

(Figure 3). Using the blue sphere, topics about the

Horizon system of coordinates such as Zenith, Nadir,

Altitude, Zenith distance, Azimuth, Point on the

horizon, Prime vertical circle, Principal vertical

circle, Vertical circles, and Altitude circle or parallel

of altitude are easily conveyed to the students. On

the other hand, with the use of the white sphere,

Time Diagram, Celestial Equator system of

coordinates, and Terrestrial System of coordinates

are better communicated with the students compared

with just using one-dimensional drawings of

spheres. Lessons on Time Diagram include Hour

circles, LHA, GHA, SHA, RA, Meridian angle,

Meridian passage, and Longitude); on Celestial

Equator system of coordinates involve Hour circle,

GHA, LHA, Meridian angle, Declination, Polar

distance, Diurnal circle or parallel of declination,

Nocturnal arc, Celestial poles and Celestial equator,

and; on Terrestrial System of coordinates are

Terrestrial poles, Equator, Meridians, Greenwich

meridian, Geographical position of the body, and the

equivalence of the its components to the celestial

system’s components. Eventually, the blue and white

spheres are combined to illustrate concepts of

Meridian passage, Circumpolar bodies, Polar

distance, Zenith distance, Co-latitude, and finally the

composition of the Navigational Triangle. See

Figure 4.

Fig. 2. Blue Celestial Sphere

Fig. 3. White Celestial Sphere with Globe at its Center

Fig. 4. Combined Blue and White Celestial Spheres

4 TEACHING USING THE MAAPCNIA

The use of MAAPCNIA is anchored on the concept

of authentic instruction. Newmann & Wehlage

(1992) identified five (5) standards of authentic

instruction which include the following: (1) higher-

order thinking; (2) depth of knowledge; (3)

connectedness to the world; (4) substantive

conversation, and; (5) social support for student

achievement. Using the instructional aid, instructors

288

can better convey or communicate the lessons and

ideas to their students. Likewise, the students can be

able to easily grasp the lessons being taught. In the

process, students are required to manipulate

information and ideas, thus exercising higher-order

thinking. The knowledge gained in the study of

celestial spheres is not thin or superficial, rather is

deep because students were able to easily visualize

and understand the lessons. More activities and

exercises can be handled because of improved

teaching and learning processes. Students can readily

picture what a one-dimensional drawing cannot

show. Their experience in this subject demonstrates

the five (5) standards of authentic instruction.

In teaching Time diagram or the Diagram on the

plane of the celestial equator, students can use the

white sphere with a globe inside together with a

special stand so the sphere will lie horizontally.

Looking from the South pole, an instructor can place

a body and the sun according to its declination, the

First point of Aries, the upper and lower branch of

the meridian as well as the Greenwich meridian that

coincides with the globe in the middle. From this,

the students can readily determine the GHA, LHA,

SHA, LMT, GMT, RA, longitude, and meridian

angle just by counting the number of hour circles

between them. (The sphere is divided into 36 equal

semi-great circles = 10° each).

The Horizon system of Coordinates can be

effectively taught by using the blue sphere. All

components of the Horizon system can be touched

such as the zenith, nadir, north, south, east and west

point of the horizon, horizon, vertical circle, prime

vertical, principal vertical circle, altitude circle,

altitude, azimuth and the point on the horizon to

determine the body’s azimuth. Each component can

be defined or described as you see and even touched

it. In the end, the importance of the co-altitude

or the zenith distance, which is one of the sides

of the navigational triangle, can then be further

emphasized. A colored tape is used to mark the

zenith distance to emphasize its importance. This

marked side is needed later on when the navigational

triangle is constructed. While explaining these

concepts to the students using the instructional tool,

the instructor would also draw and discuss the

exercise using orthographic projection on the white

board so the students can really visualize the

example. Right after discussing the horizon system

of coordinates, the white sphere using the vertical

stand is then used and explained. As shown, the

white sphere is also divided into 36 equal meridians

(10˚ each spacing) and six (6) small circles from the

equator to the poles (15° apart). These spheres are

just prototypes as these can also be divided into nine

(9) if another spheres are to be constructed so they

will be 10° apart and will be consistent with the

meridians. The most important components to

discuss with the white sphere is the hour circles,

LHA, declination, parallel of declination or

the diurnal circle, nocturnal circle, point on

the celestial equator to determine the LHA and the

co-declination or the polar distance. The instructor

must emphasize the importance of the polar

distance or co-declination as one of the side of the

navigational triangle. In the meantime, those sides

are marked using colored tape for later discussion.

The exercise must also be drawn on the board using

orthographic projection and must be thoroughly

discussed.

Most celestial navigators reduce their celestial

observations by solving a navigational triangle

whose points are the elevated pole, the celestial

body, and the zenith of the observer. The sides of the

triangle are the polar distance of the body

(codeclination), its zenith distance (coaltitude) and

the polar distance of the zenith (colatitude of the

observer). The navigational triangle is represented by

the PZX. The PZ represents the co-latitude or the

Celestial superimposed. The ZX represents the co-

latitude or the Celestial Horizon. The PX on the

other hand represents the co-declination or the

celestial equator.

This can be shown using orthographic projection

but the students had some difficulty in drawing the

exercise. By combining the blue and white spheres

(retaining the marked zenith distance and polar

distance) the instructor should only align the North

and South Pole of the white sphere with the local

meridian on top. The elevated pole should also be

aligned depending on the latitude of the observer.

This will constitute the third and final side of the

navigational triangle. In using the spheres, the

students will see how a body will traverse the diurnal

circle, will the body set (if circumpolar), will it pass

the prime vertical, determine the azimuth during

setting and rising, altitude and azimuth of the body

at meridian passage, etc.

With these representations, the instructor could

then provide a problem for the students to solve.

For example, Z is the assumed position with latitude

of 15° North and a longitude of 120° East. GP

or geographical position of the body with the

corresponding position on earth with latitude

(declination) and Longitude (GHA Greenwich hour)

can be computed.

5 IMPACT OF THE MAAPCNIA

TO AUTHENTIC INSTRUCTION

In teaching concepts of celestial spheres,

orthographic projection is extremely difficult to

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illustrate on a whiteboard, which is one-dimensional

in nature. But with the use of the MAAPCNIA

wherein students can observe spheres in a three-

dimensional view, teaching and learning is

enhanced. The instructional aid challenges the

imagination of the students. The students can readily

visualize the most common problems encountered

by navigators involving the navigational triangle.

These common problems, according to Bowditch

(1995) are as follows:

1 For the reduction of a celestial observation to

establish a line position (Given altitude,

declination and meridian angle, find altitude and

azimuth angle)

2 For the identification of an unknown celestial

body (Given latitude, altitude and azimuth angle,

find declination and meridian angle)

3 For finding azimuth when the altitude is known

(Given meridian angle, declination and altitude to

find azimuth angle).

The activities provided by the instructor using the

MAAPCNIA had given the learners the visual and

tactile feedbacks. Therefore, each activity is

designed to gauge the progress of the learner as they

are tasked to solve problems and explain. The

instructor could present an example of the problem

using the whiteboard vis-à-vis the instructional tool.

Indeed, MAAPCNIA as a teaching instrument,

supports the five (5) standards of authentic

instruction:

1 Higher-Order Thinking as students are required to

manipulate information and ideas in ways that

transform their meaning and implications such as

when students combine facts and ideas in order to

synthesize, generalize, explain, hypothesis or

arrive at some conclusions or interpretation.

Manipulating information and ideas through the

use of MAAPCNIA and other processes allows

students to solve problems and discover new

meanings and understandings. When students

engage in higher-order thinking, an element of

uncertainty is introduced and instructional

outcomes are not always predictable.

2 High Depth Knowledge as the students can make

clear distinctions, develop arguments, solve

problems, construct explanations, and work with

relatively complex understanding using the

MAAPCNIA. Depth is produced in part, by

covering fewer topics in systematic and connected

ways. Using the MAAPCNIA, knowledge is deep

as the teaching revolves around the central ideas

of a topic on celestial navigation.

3 High Connectedness to the World as the students

work on problems or issues that the instructor and

students see as connected to their personal

experience or contemporary celestial navigational

situations. The learners explore these connections

in a way that create personal meaning and value

beyond the instructional context.

4 High Substantive Conversation as the students are

provided the opportunity to share ideas, explain

or ask questions using the MAAPCNIA and

therefore resulting to coherent promotion of

collective understanding of the topic on celestial

navigation.

5 High Social Support for Student Achievement as

all students are included in the learning process.

Using the MAAPCNIA, the instructor conveys

his expectations for all students, including those

that are necessary to master the challenging

academic work in a climate where there is mutual

respect. The students with less skill or proficiency

on the topics are treated in ways that encourage

their efforts and value their contributions which is

the essence of mutual respect.

The MAAPCNIA does not only appeal to the

“seeing” sense of students of Celestial Navigation

but also to their “touching” sense which could

enhance their interest and retentivity of basic facts

and principles, which are mere abstractions, in the

subject. MAAPCNIA provides an authentic and

constructivistic way of learning. Constructivistic, in

a sense that the students are actively creating their

own knowledge through a process of continually

“making sense” of information and experiences and

integrating new ideas with existing knowledge. This

is based on the Theory of Constructivism stated by

Huba & Freed (2000).

The MAAPCNIA, which is a convenient-size

shrinkage of the actual thing, will enable students

while engaged in the discourse during class

instruction to understand and communicate at both

detailed and “big picture” levels, and to acquire life

long skills that permit continuous adaptation to

workplaces that are in constant flux.

6 CONCLUSIONS

The MAAPCNIA provides an authentic and

constructivistic way of introducing the basic

principles, most especially in the computation of

problems on celestial navigation. The results are

accurate even at points near the conducting

boundaries with less computational effort and with

great understanding. Unlike the whiteboard and pen

illustration, this teaching tool is made to provide a

detailed map of the potential distribution of various

celestial bodies and still be able to compute the

problems with ease.

This is just a prototype of some sort and an

improved version is still feasible. This would require

290

a lot of simulations that need to be modified to study

other particles interacting on other forces that may

also add perturbation. Through studying the

structures of various spheres and materials, one can

then identify and classify a given problem,

understand the reasons of its behaviors, and assess

possible applications that might fit and suit to its

exhibited properties. As a result, material

development and improvement would then be

favored as technology advancement through

understanding of the basic concepts and principles

on celestial navigation. In addition to this, it would

be possible to manipulate a material through

structure analyses and modifications; the

MAAPCNIA could very well help on this concern.

The basic power of visualization and manipulation

of the celestial bodies through the use of this

teaching tool certainly had helped students to

understand the true nature and laws that governs

things surrounding the celestial bodies. Teachers and

students who have used the MAAPCNIA provided

similar feedbacks on their appreciation of the

relevance and impact of said tool in the teaching and

learning process. Indeed, the use of MAAPCNIA,

engaged the students in using their mind well.

This is a challenge in MET towards authentic

instruction.

7 RECOMMENDATIONS

With the advent of automated position fixing and

electronic charts, modern navigation is almost

completely an electronic process. It would be a

mistake if a mariner would be tempted to almost

completely rely solely on electronic systems

considering that electronic navigation systems are

always subject to failure. Safety of the ship and the

crew still always rely on the skills of the professional

mariners. Hence, proficiency in conventional

piloting and celestial navigation still remains very

important. The instructional tool on celestial

navigation would certainly teach the science of

navigation in a manner that would be appreciated by

students; however, the students must develop the art

of navigation by experience. Students must use the

necessary methods and techniques best suited to the

vessel and the conditions at hand.

Further studies on the improvement of

MAAPCNIA are recommended. Moreover, other

innovations for educational development must be

encouraged in MET.

REFERENCES

Aziz M.A. 1999. Maritime Education and Training Institutions

Standards and Requirements. 3

LSM Asia-Pacific

Manning and Training Conference, Manila, 3-4 November.

Bowditch N. 1995. The American Practical Navigator.

Bethesda, Maryland: Defense Mapping Agency Hydro-

graphic/Topographic Center.

Chugani P. 1997. Aspects of Distance Education on

Board, Maritime Education and Training book, Nautical

Institute.

Huba M. & Freed J. 2000. Learner-Centered Assessment on

College Campuses. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Newmann F. & Wehlage G. 1992. Five standards of Authentic

Instruction. Prepared at the Center on Organization and

Restructuring of Schools, supported by the US Department

of Educational Research and Improvement (Grant No.

R117Q0005-92) and by the Wisconsin Center for Education

Research School of Education, University of Wisconsin-

Madison.