Illuminations: Planning a Trip

Planning a Trip

Unit Overview

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 4

Lesson 5

Lesson 6

Lesson 7

Lesson 8

Planning a Class Trip to a Local Attraction

This lesson builds on the previous lessons and encourages the students to work in groups and apply their knowledge about a trip in a new context. In this lesson, students plan a trip to a local attraction such as a museum, a site of historical or scientific significance, or business. They research times the attraction is open, its distance from the school and prepare a schedule which is displayed to inform as they solve an open-ended problem involving distance and time. This experience focuses students’ attention on the mathematics needed in planning a trip and allows them to apply these understandings and skills in a group-selected context.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

develop a schedule for a one-day trip to a selected location
prepare a display based on their calculations

Materials

Computer and Internet connection
References to plan a trip such as phone books, advertising brochures, local newspapers, or the Internet
Sample trip Schedule
Class Notes Recording Sheet

Instructional Plan

To begin this class, ask students to brainstorm some of the places they might like to visit as a class. Record these locations where all students can see them. Then assign the students to small groups. These could be the groups students worked in previously or new groups. Have available some references students might use to plan a local trip such as phone books, advertising brochures or local newspapers. In addition, helpful material can often be found on the web by entering the name of your community into the search function. Explain that each group should choose a location and then prepare a schedule for a day’s visit. Record this information on a poster to share with the class, such as this Sample Trip Schedule.

Sample Trip Schedule

Students determine the distance to a local attraction and tell others of their trip plans. A Web site which students can use to explore the attractions in their state is provided by the Library of Congress. Material can be accessed for each state if the "Explore the States" button is selected.

You may wish to review the concept of time duration if it is not well understood by the children. Since finding elapsed time requires working in a system other than base ten, you may wish to review this before the children begin. Those who need a more concrete way to find elapsed time than calculation affords may wish to model the opening and ending times on a clock with movable hands.

Information on how to construct effective posters is available in the Posters and Press lesson, available from another MarcoPolo partner site, ARTSEDGE. As each group finishes its task, display their posters. When all groups have finished, discuss with students the ways they collected information, as well as how they determined distances and elapsed times. Then ask them to explain why they chose that site to visit and how they arrived at their schedules.

After all groups have reported, invite the students to compare the schedules to determine similarities and differences. You may want to call attention to the procedures followed when figuring elapsed time.

Questions for Students

How did you decide where to go? Did everyone in your group agree? If not, how did you come to an agreement?

How did you determine how long the trip would take? What did you need to take into account as you planned the departure time? The return time?

What helped you plan a schedule during the visit? Why did you choose the items you included?

How did you find the distance to the attraction? Could you do it another way?

If the attraction were twice as far away, how would that affect the schedule you developed?

Assessment Options

At this stage of the unit it is important to know:
- which variable students attend to
- whether students can find distances from a map
- if students can find elapsed time
- if students can use elapsed time to plan a schedule
The guiding questions help students focus on the mathematics applied in this unit and aid you in understanding the students’ level of knowledge and skill with them. You may want to add another entry to the recording sheet Class Notes to document students’ current level of understanding and to monitor their growth toward meeting the learning objectives.
You may also wish to copy the schedules as a way to document the growth of student skills and understandings as they complete this part of the unit. You can store these student work samples in student’s folders or portfolio.
Data on individual students can be used to plan strategies for regrouping students, for remediation, and for extension activities. Besides being useful to the teacher, they are a valuable addition to a portfolio that can be shared with parents, administrators, and colleagues.

Teacher Reflection

Which groups worked together effectively? Why?
Did the students in each group contribute equally to the project? Did some students exhibit special strengths?
Which students met all the objectives of this lesson? What extension activities are appropriate for those students?
Which students are still having difficulty with the objectives of this lesson? What additional instructional experiences do they need?
What adjustments would you make the next time you teach this lesson?