Magnetic or true north?

As part of our Geometry studies we are looking at mapping and compasses. Earlier this week we explored compasses and how they work. This included identifying true north, magnetic north, discovering how these move (Magnetic north is moving about 55km per year!!) and that the magnetic south and north poles have even flipped in the past. We learnt how to orientate a topographical map to north. There are still many questions. Some good questions to ponder are - Why is Zac (who visited us) mostly going to use a compass on their adventure and only use their GPS when needed? Why does the magnetic poles move? How important is it to be accurate when using a compass? We need a bit more practice on orientating our map and following compass directions. After that we will move on to giving our location using 6 figure grid references on a topographical map. Here is an interesting video about magnetism, compasses and the poles.