Teacher's Guide

Teaching orienteering

Through its o-skolen programme and activity bank, the Norwegian Orienteering Federation has created a range of resources that make it easy to practise orienteering. This page links to…

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Through its o-skolen and activity bank, the Norwegian Orienteering Federation has created a range of resources that make it easy to practise orienteering. This page links to relevant teaching resources, along with tips and tricks for making the teaching of orienteering easier.

At the bottom there are suggestions for specifying competence aims under “What you will learn”, along with relevant competence aims across different subjects and year levels.

Teaching materials

Feel free to use o-skolen’s PowerPoint when teaching about maps and the compass.

On YouTube there is a playlist from the Norwegian Orienteering Federation with short films on the topic “Learn orienteering”.

There is also an e-learning resource for orienteering that goes through everything from the map and map detail to what you should bear in mind when you are out running. It offers plenty of good tips.

The Norwegian Orienteering Federation has also created the “o-skole-sekken” and permanent orienteering controls, which can be bought from the sports shop.

Maps and base maps

[Film: Norsk orientering, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FQKGVYQ-Sc&t=16s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FQKGVYQ-Sc&t=16s)

Film: Norsk orientering, 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FQKGVYQ-Sc&t=16s

On the skoleorientering pages there are a range of ready-made orienteering maps. If you cannot find a map of areas near your school, you can go to mapant and create your own map extract of the area you want.

There are also a number of ready-made courses on the UsynligO APP.

Click here for more information on how to create map extracts and your own courses with various software, including UsynligO and mapant.

Practical tasks

  1. Draw your own map (1-3 hours)

    Set up a start and finish point for a short trip of a few km. Either in easy terrain or on an unmarked/indistinct path in terrain with a little variation. Ideally it should not be possible to see the destination from the start of the course.

    Give the pupils the start and finish point. They then get 10-15 minutes to draw their own map for the trip they are going to take on a blank A4 sheet. They are of course allowed to look at an ordinary map as they copy it.

    At a suitable interval, for example 5 minutes, the participants set off on the trip alone with their own drawn map.

    Pack a light rucksack and put an ordinary map and compass in it. The teacher either goes ahead or in the middle and keeps a bit of an eye on things. It is perfect if the finish point is not in a completely obvious place, such as at the end of a lake or on a summit or similar. Halfway up a slope at a particular contour line with a small dip is perfect.

  2. Line up by compass direction based on degrees (5 min)

    One by one, the participants are given degrees, for example 276 degrees. This can usefully be done the first time by having one person represent north, and then the others have to position themselves in relation to the “north” person. Each pupil places themselves roughly where they think they ought to stand if they were part of a compass dial.

    This can usefully be done the first time by having one person represent north, and then the others have to position themselves in relation to the “north” person.

    The task can be carried out along the way on a trip, or between other things, to remind everyone to keep track of compass direction. The task can perfectly well be done without a person representing north; in that case, remember to have a physical point representing the centre of the circle.

  3. Find the dinner (or other objects) (20-40 min)

    Everyone starts together from one point, for example a table outdoors. Here each group is given its own compass bearing and the number of metres to walk. For example 45 degrees, 50 metres. At the place they are to find, there can be something for them to find, such as ingredients for dinner. The objects should not be easily visible; the point is that you should not be able to see them from a distance.

  4. Estimate the size, distance, height and the like in the terrain (5-15 min)

    Look at small and large formations along the way. A small lake, a pool, a rise, a hillock. What is the distance over to the sheer rock face from where we are standing now? How wide is the lake? How long is the lake? How tall is a steep rock face? Look at the terrain first and then check with the map. These are good tasks to set along the way when things come up, or during breaks.

  5. Find the name and height, and show the place on the map

    A summit, a lake, or a small hut. What is the name of the valley? What is the height of that summit? What is the lake over there called? That bend we can see in the stream, where is it on the map? That steep crag over there, where is it? Anything that means you have to look between the terrain and the map.

    Make the tasks more and more detailed as the pupils master map reading better. Vary the questions with both nearby streams and mountains on the horizon.

  6. Plan a day trip with stages and plan for bad weather using SARTTO

    More about Route choice and SARTTO

  7. Cross-bearing

    Stand in a spot with a good view of various terrain features, large and small, ideally a number of very clear and unambiguous ones.

    Take a cross-bearing first without the map and transfer it to the map. Two or three points, draw a line.

    More about Cross-bearing

  8. Where are we?

    Where are we now? As simple as that. Show where we are now. Repeated continuously until people remember to keep track of where they are and to check the map often enough to be sure all the way.

  9. Where are we going?

    Describe in words where we are going to walk over the next half hour, hour. What will we come across? What do we see? On which side will the lake, the stream, the rise be? How do we know we should stop? How do we know we have gone the right way or the wrong way?

Relevant teaching resources from aktivitetsbanken.no

Click on the headings to go directly to the activity plan.

Report orienteering

An exercise where the pupil has to navigate by the map and find the controls marked on the map. The controls are not marked in the terrain, and you should therefore choose clear features such as path junctions, a fence, a boulder or similar.

Using the compass

[Film: Norsk orientering, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F526utnbB_c](https://youtu.be/F526utnbB_c)

Film: Norsk orientering, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F526utnbB_c

A short instructional film showing the basic use of various types of compass in orienteering.

Compass training

The pupil practises compass bearings.

Click here for more information on taking a compass bearing.

Compass bearings (for the slightly more advanced)

The pupil has to follow a precise compass bearing in order to reach the correct control.

Click here for more information on taking a compass bearing.

Map-symbol relay

[Film: Norsk orientering, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0O3I0fdtxY&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0O3I0fdtxY&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=13)

Film: Norsk orientering, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0O3I0fdtxY&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=13

The pupil learns map symbols and trains their motor skills in a fast-paced and exciting game.

Route choice

An exercise where the pupil has to assess different route choices, based among other things on difficulty, distance and ease of passage.

Historisk-O 2

This exercise is well suited to an activity day combining orienteering and history.

Find the route choice

A gym-hall activity where the pupil practises finding route choices.

Maze orienteering

[Film: Norsk orientering, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKKgzPCeeJU&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKKgzPCeeJU&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=2)

Film: Norsk orientering, 2018, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKKgzPCeeJU&list=PL7C93CBAE549EB4DE&index=2

The pupil practises orienting the map.

Permanent control markers

[Film: Norsk orientering, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzff4C2Ijl8&list=PLKh1S4jkq4cLp6Apbwz9Jem63LFm0_b0S&index=4&t=35s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzff4C2Ijl8&list=PLKh1S4jkq4cLp6Apbwz9Jem63LFm0_b0S&index=4&t=35s)

Film: Norsk orientering, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzff4C2Ijl8&list=PLKh1S4jkq4cLp6Apbwz9Jem63LFm0_b0S&index=4&t=35s

Here you will find a range of tips for activities you can do with permanent controls. You do not have to buy these control markers in order to use the activity, but the advantage is that the aluminium signs hold up better than laminated sheets.

What you will learn

Here are listed suggestions for specifications in orienteering with progression from year to year. These can be adjusted to suit the activity and the aim of the session and the orienteering unit. Competence aims relating to orienteering are listed under the relevant subjects below.

Suggested attainment for VG1

  • gain experience of navigating in unfamiliar and varied terrain with a compass
  • get an introduction to the compass and practise compass bearings
  • explain why it is useful to be able to use a map and compass
  • explain what the scale on a map tells us, and work out the real-world distance when you have a map with a known scale
  • explain what a contour line and contour interval are
  • read and recognise the following map symbols on orienteering maps/hiking maps and in the terrain
    • building
    • road
    • path
    • forest
    • bog
    • lake
    • steep crag
    • cultivated land
  • explain where north is on the map, and orient the map to north
  • explain what can cause the compass to show the wrong direction.

Suggested attainment for VG2

  • be able to orient the map to the terrain, without using a compass
  • use handrails in the terrain to find clear features/controls
  • know how the compass works
  • be able to show how to take a compass bearing
  • experience and reflect on the time taken from one point to another, both on and off the path
  • use the following map symbols on orienteering maps/hiking maps to determine your own position
    • building
    • road
    • path
    • forest
    • bog
    • lake
    • steep crag
    • cultivated land

Suggested attainment for VG3

  • be able to find clear features/controls away from handrails
  • be able to recognise simple height information on the map in the terrain
  • be able to take and follow a compass bearing
  • be able to choose a safe route from one place to another
  • know most of the map symbols on orienteering maps and hiking maps, and be able to find these on the map and in the terrain
    • building
    • road
    • path
    • forest
    • bog
    • lake
    • steep crag
    • cultivated land
    • stream
  • be able to account for other ways of navigating (natural phenomena, GPS)

Competence aims relating to orienteering

Competence aims relating to orienteering

Tekst

Gina Wigestrand, Snuitide (2022)