Originally Posted By Gershon
If I were to teach navigation, I'd start with dead reckoning in an area where bushwacking is easy. I'd lay out a series of points and ask the person to navigate from one to the next using just a compass and pacing. They wouldn't have a map, so topographical features would be useless.

The next step would be to start from a known point and map a trail using dead reckoning.

By this time they will be ready for a Topo map.



If you are talking air or sea navigation then maybe using the compass is a good starting point. Teaching map reading with a topo is the first skill I teach for LAND navigation.
_________________________
"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not."
Yogi Berra