After watching the explorer presentations, my knowledge of the oceans has expanded. The explorers were very smart. I found it really interesting that they learned to navigate the oceans through looking at the constellations, the currents, and the weather. I also found it interesting that these ancient peoples were able to come up with pretty advanced technology. The compass was a life changing invention. Also, the idea of latitude and longitude maps, and that the Earth is a sphere, were pretty big discoveries. The explorers did a lot of traveling. It really surprised me that they were capable of building ships that could go out on the open oceans for long periods of time. The ancient ocean explorers were extremely smart people.
The work of ancient explorers has been helpful in ocean exploration today. Despite fancy new technology, like GPS, techniques like using the constellations, currents, and weather are still valuable ways of navigating today. I am amazed that the oceans have been explored for thousands of years, and yet there is still so much unknown. The ocean is a truely a mysterious place. I can't wait to continue to learn more about it.
