Illuminations: Planning a Trip

Planning a Trip

Planning a Trip to Disneyland or Disney World, Part Two

During this lesson, student groups use data collected in the previous lesson to plan a trip to Disneyland or Disney World. Using skills they developed in the previous lessons, students determine not only elapsed time and distance, but extend their problem solving to figuring meals, lodging, air travel, and incidentals.

As students tackle this more complex task, teachers have opportunity to observe students’ growing competence with methods and tools for computation, estimation, problem posing and solving, interpretation of graphical representations, measuring with standard units, and responding to investigations that require the comparison of data sets. This lesson is designed to take approximately 45 minutes but time will vary according to the needs and abilities of your students.

Learning Objectives
 
Students will:
  • select appropriate methods and tools for computing with whole numbers from among mental computation, estimation, calculators, and paper and pencil
  • become familiar with standard units in the customary and metric system

Materials
 
Computer and Internet connection
Available trip planning resources from the previous lesson
Calculators
Class Notes Recording Sheet

Instructional Plan

To begin this class, put the students into the groups they were in for lesson five and ask them to refer to the data collected in the previous lesson. Remind students that the task for today is to plan a trip providing information regarding costs of food, lodging, travel, and incidentals. Have available resources from the previous lesson so students might refer to them as they plan their trip such as computers, maps, brochures, menus, hotel rates, videos, or newspapers.

Explain that each group should plan a trip to one of the Disney attractions then prepare a schedule for the trip. In this phase, students use the previously collected data for accommodations, air travel, meals, tickets to the attractions, and incidental expenses.

Have each group enter their data on a class chart to share with the class showing the group decisions about lodging, meals, air travel, ground travel, and incidentals and the total cost. You may wish to provide calculators so that the students can more easily do the computations.

When all groups have finished, discuss with students the ways they collected the data they needed and how they arrived at their decisions. After all groups have reported, invite the students to compare their data to determine similarities and differences apparent on the chart. You may want to call attention to the most and least expensive items and discuss the rationale for these differences.

Questions for Students
 

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?

How did you determine how much the trip would cost? How will you decide what each person will pay?

How many persons must share a hotel room in order to get the best price? How many will the hotel allow in each room?

Who will pay for the chaperones’ expenses? Will the cost for adults be greater than for students in your class?

How does the cost of the transportation provided by the school compare with public transportation that is inevitable for travel to the Disney attractions?

How did you determine the best selection of hotel, restaurants, airline, and ticket option?

How can you defend this trip to the school board as an educational experience?

Assessment Options
 
  1. At this stage of the unit it is important to know:
    • which variables students attend to
    • if students can use Internet resources to research options
    • if students can compare costs to select best options
    • if students compute flexibly and fluently using a variety of strategies
    • if students can connect a trip of choice to curricular goals
    • if students can prepare a convincing argument to defend their participation in this trip
  2. The guiding questions help you understand the students’ current level of knowledge and skill. You may wish to record this information on the Class Notes recording sheet as you continue to monitor student growth toward meeting the learning objectives. Ask students to reflect in writing on the problem solving strategies they used to prepare a trip plan.

Extensions
 
  1. Additional challenges might include reporting on the investigation of the events that are the most popular and the added time required to wait for these features. Students should report on other events that have similar features so that the class can select whether to wait for popular attractions or choose alternative ones. Criteria for determining participation in some events might be their educational value based upon curricula goals for your students.

Teacher Reflection
 
  • Which groups worked together most effectively? Have they developed the ability to work together as the unit progressed?
  • Did 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 information did students provide in their written reflections that you had not observed before? How did you frame a prompt to elicit information that would help you understand what students know about data and their ability to display and interpret data sets?
  • What would you do differently the next time you teach this lesson?
  • Are students able to explain their reasoning? Are their reasons logical?
  • How do students decide upon shared responsibilities?
  • Are students able to quantify, organize, and/or record information?
  • Were directions clear and usable by students? If not what adjustment would be appropriate for you to make?
  • What new vocabulary did students use that might need to be reinforced in the next lesson?

NCTM Standards and Expectations
 
Data Analysis & Probability 3-5
  1. Represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs.
  
1 period   

NCTM Resources

Principles and Standards for School Mathematics
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Thinkfinity Verizon Foundation
More and Better Mathematics for All Students
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