Introduction

This lesson has the students perform a task that is not routinely thought of as requiring algebra skills (planning a trip) and shows them how to use algebra in their decision making processes.  It uses technology tools to gather information, create graphs, keep track of a budget and present their findings.  The project requires students to communicate their findings and data in writing and by oral presentation.

Content Area and Grade Level

This lesson gives the student practice in using math to solve a practical problem.  It is useful for the second half of an Algebra 1course or the beginning of an Algebra 2 course.  This lesson can easily be expanded to tie into a social studies unit.

Curriculum Standards

The students will gain practice in creating scatter plots with trendlines, identifying relationships between independent and dependent variables, creating pie charts, converting between systems of units, and gathering data.  A quantitative method for making decisions is taught and practiced using "decision matrices".  The following curriculum standards are included in this lesson:

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Principles and  Standards for School Mathematics (published in 2000):

Algebra Standard for grades 9 - 12

•     Understand patterns, relations and functions

• Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect, organize and display relevant data to answer them.

• Organize and consolidate mathematical thinking through communication.
• Communicate mathematical thinking clearly and coherently to peers, teachers and others.

• Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside mathematics.

Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks:

Patterns, Functions and Algebra

• Identify relations and functions from graphs, point sets and equations.
• Determine the slope from a graph of a linear relation

• Select an appropriate graphical representation for a set of data.

The lesson is broken into four activities with specific numbered tasks within each activity.  The lesson will take a total of about 4 class hours, if done totally in class.  (How many classes this is will depend upon your school's particular schedule.)

It is recommended that the lesson is introduced using an entire class.  This should be done in a room where the students have computer access.  The teacher should introduce the lesson, assign the students into groups of four and have them browse through and begin the lesson.  Each group should finish through Activity 1 Task ?  if this is done in an 84 minute block.

The class schedule and demography may determine whether all or part of the rest of the lesson is done during class time.  Keep in mind that not all students may have equal access to computers if this is a home assignment.  The following recommendations are made:

• The students should be given a timeline that tells them when each task should be complete (at the latest) to help them organize their work.

• If the majority of the work is to be done in class, it is recommended that it be done over a period of four or five weeks, with 45 minutes to an hour per week (one half of an 84 minute block) dedicated to working on the lesson.  They should be told what should be accomplished by the end of each session.

• If the majority of the work is done outside of class, you will still need to allow some meeting time for the groups each week.  About twenty minutes should be scheduled for this.  The students should know when this will occur each week so they can utilize the time well.  They should use the time to see if they are on schedule and make a plan to complete the next week's work.

• The last task, giving the presentation must be done during class.  How many classes this takes depends upon the number of groups.

Many Internet resources are listed on the student page.  Click here to go to Resources on Student Page.  Other resources needed or that may be helpful are:

• Several travel planning books such as Fodor's Europe.
• Computers with word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software.

It is assumed that all students should be able to use a spreadsheet to graph data and create tables that require formulae.

The teacher should be confident in his/her computer skills before assigning this project.

Evaluation

The evaluation is done by a detailed rubric.

Possible Variations

This lesson could easily be expanded and refined to integrate with a social studies unit on Europe, or any other geographical location.

Conclusion

This lesson shows how math is useful outside of the mathematics classroom.  The use of technology may be a hook to interest students who are not intrigued by math within the classroom.