Orienteering Education and Research Around the World

This is a collection of resources for teaching orienteering, and about research related to orienteering, with an emphasis on children and youth.

It was started on 4/15/2020, and is under ongoing development.

Some of the best:

• Navigation Games lesson plans and website

• Orange Marks the Spot (Alberta Orienteering Association). 6 lessons using Google Earth maps.

• Orienteering Canada's Skills and Development Database

• Orienteering for the Young (OUSA) - various resources including the 4-step orienteering skills recognition program, Safesport, the Youth Mapping Program, and information for schools, scouts and JROTC.

• Lesson plans for high school from Alberta Orienteering Association.

• Go4orienteering. We LOVE these exercises (because kids love them) - highly recommended.

• All About Orienteering information sheet from Orienteering Canada

• COOL, AWESOME and EDUCATIONAL! for ages 13-15. and Ages 6-15

• Kiwi-O school curriculum. Among other things, there are some good introductory classroom activities.

• Project Adventure

Additional resources to explore:

• Organizing a class orienteering event from OCIN

• NZ Maths unit on describing location and directions

• PE 352 syllabus for Grade 10 Orienteering from Larry Chernoff and Kirsten Odegaard

• Orienteering lesson plan from the Waskowitz Outdoor School

• Understanding Orienteering, from Sterling High School NJROTC

• Orienteering in Schools, the Scottish Orienteering Federation

  • They run a one-day Introducing Orienteering course for teachers and outdoor youth leaders: learn basic orienteering skills; learn how to bring subjects to life through orienteering.

• Scottish Schools Orienteering Association. This organization puts on annual orienteering festivals for schoolchildren.

• Orienteering New Zealand's School Orienteering page

Research and books about orienteering

• "Orienteering in Geography Education in Japanese High School," Taketo Kobayashi. Proceedings of the International Cartographic Association, 2, 2019.

  • Two important aspects; (1) it is outdoor education, which presents challenges and (2) different country environments influence how it is taught.

  • In Japan, orienteering is taught in PE as opposed to from the viewpoint of learning maps. The author discusses using orienteering in geography education.

  • Matching the map with the actual place is a key skill in geography education, and is effectively taught through orienteering. This is a key "awareness".

• Kirby 1970, "The geographical sport of orienteering," Geography, 55-3, 285-288.

  • Orienteering as a geography learning tool is effective in improving field observation, map reading, map-making precision, and field research techniques.

• Boardman 1989, "The development of graphicacy: Children's understanding of maps, " Geography, 74-4, 321-331.

  • Orienteering practices map skills for people with different abilities.

• McNeill, Martland and Palmer, 2003. "Orienteering in the national curriculum: Key stages 1 to 3," Harvey Map Services Ltd. 80p.

  • Lesson plans for K-12 orienteering education

• McNeill and Palmer, 2005. "Orienteering in the national curriculu: Key stages 3 and 4," The World of Maps, Chapter 12, 1-5.

  • Lesson plans for K-12 orienteering education.

Articles about orienteering

• An Introduction to Orienteering from Get Out There magazine, Oct 6, 2014
• Exploration comes to life with orienteering, geocaching - an article on the OSU website