Orienteering is an outdoor activity where participants navigate between points using a detailed map. It originated as a military exercise in Scandinavia in the early 1900s and has become a competitive sport. It promotes environmental awareness, develops critical thinking skills, and increases physical fitness. In orienteering, students use compasses, rulers, and maps to navigate to specific locations marked by control flags or paper lanterns in the quickest time while making strategic route choices. The goal is to complete the course by visiting points in the correct sequence.

2. What is orienteering?
It’s an outdoor activity where the participants navigate
from one point to another point to find the features (the
sites) indicated on the map
It’s a competitive sport that originated as a military exercise in Scandinavia in the early 1900’s.
It’s a motivating recreational activity which
promotes environmental awareness,
 develops critical thinking skills
 increases physical fitness

3. (Secondary School - Torrevecchia Teatina)

4. (Secondary School – Ripa Teatina)
Orienteering is a good way to teach students map skills
and can be integrated with units on geography, maths and science.

5. use a compass,
goniometers, rulers and
squares
follow a map to a
specific location
follow written
directions to a specific
location
“read” a map and
interpretate its simbols
and function

6. The MAP is a very detailed
representation of a section of a
town/park/woods (it depends on
where the competition is taking
place). Students must read map
symbols (fountains, walls, parks,
streams, trails, hills, depressions,
rocks, etc. ).
Each element is mapped in great
detail and very accurately located.

7. At the START
each group of
students is
given a map
and assigned a
start time.
They can’t
look at the
map until their
time is called.
When their
time is
announced
they do the
following
steps:
Turn the map over
Look for the start triangle
Orient the map to their direction of
travel using a compass
Figure out how they're going to get
from the start triangle to control #1
then…

8. But, the real fun and
challenge of orienteering
is in
the route choice.
“Do I take the long way
around on a main street or do I
cut straight through the park
directly to the control?
Do I go up and over that huge
hill or go around it?...”
The choices are endless!
The aim is to navigate in sequence between control
points, marked out on the orienteering map, in the
quickest possible time.
Students can plan to walk around the course but many
choose to jog or run.

9. Anyway… the goal of
orienteering is to complete a
course in point-to-point order.

10. A
CONTROL FLAG
or a
PAPER LANTERN
marks the location
that the students
must visit.

15. Project: HEALTHY LIFE FOR A HEALTHY WORLD
Section: HEALTHY BODY
Schools: SECONDARY SCHOOL (classes IIA and IIB)
– Ripa Teatina – Italy
SECONDARY SCHOOL (class IIA)
– Torrevecchia Teatina– Italy
Teachers involved: Giancaterino A. Marrone S. Cotumaccio M.A.
Environmental experts: IL GRANDE FAGGIO – Pretoro – Italy
Thanks to our environmental experts Fabrizio and Luca for helping us
to choose the best possible way!