Planning a Trip

Students will:

• select appropriate methods and tools for computing with whole numbers from among mental computation, estimation, calculators, and paper and pencil
• use charts to draw conclusions
• become familiar with standard units

Computer and Internet connection
Resources for trip planning
Student Reflection Guide

Why did you choose your destination? Who will be making the trip with you?

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

How does group planning compare with individual planning?

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 are able to identify similarities and differences among various plans
   • if students can compare costs to select best options
   • if students compute flexibly and fluently using a variety of strategies
   • which data are important to review when planning a trip
2. The guiding questions help you understand the students’ current level of knowledge and skill. You may wish to review the completed Class Notes documents completed throughout this unit. These can guide guiding questions you pose for individual students. The primary assessment document is the written report prepared by the student. Since this is a summative assessment, limited assistance should be provided to students.

1. An additional challenge might be to have students write a reflection on the planning process including identification of most influential factors. Students might also suggest the mathematical knowledge needed to complete the task and how this task might be useful in their personal lives.

• 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 elicit information that will 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?

Looking Back

• What key ideas do the majority of the students apply consistently?
• Which students met all the objectives of this unit? What extension activities are appropriate for those students?
• Which students did not meet the objectives of this unit? What additional instructional experiences do they need?
• What other learning experiences would help students compute elapsed time? Cost?
• What knowledge and skills do students need to better construct a schedule?
• Can students recognize the variables to be considered in planning a trip?
• Can students explain and defend the procedures they use to develop a schedule or to plan a trip?
• What were the greatest challenges for the most students?
• Which portions of this Unit Plan were the students most motivated to complete? Why?

This set of questions may help you determine the focus of your next instructional activities. Documenting the level of each student’s understanding makes accurate information available for planning the appropriate subsequent instructional activities.

Moving Forward

• How can I help students focus on the important ideas in this and other mathematics lessons?
• What other situations could I pose that would have meaning for the students?
• What other learning experiences will help students develop and answer questions about duration and distance?
• How might I connect the key ideas of this unit with lessons about similar mathematics content?
• What learning experiences that we routinely use would help students develop and respond to questions? How can these be changed to better facilitate posing questions?
• In which other mathematics experiences do we or could we compute in a meaningful context?
• What new assessment tools would enable me to efficiently gather data on my students’ performance and on their progress toward learning targets?

Data Analysis & Probability 3-5

1. Represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs.
2. Design investigations to address a question and consider how data-collection methods affect the nature of the data set.
3. Propose and justify conclusions and predictions that are based on data and design studies to further investigate the conclusions or predictions.