Students track a professional sports team across the country.
Objectives
Students
correctly read a map scale,
use a map scale to calculate the number of miles covered by a sports team in a trip,
calculate the cost of a trip.
Keywords
geography, sports team, road trip, map, map scale
Materials Needed
sports section of a newspaper or game schedules of local sports teams
computers with Internet access
copies of U.S. road maps
paper
pens or pencils
Lesson Plan
Ask students to name their favorite sports teams. Help students check the sports section of the newspaper, game schedules, or team Web sites to find out where the teams will play upcoming road trips.
Hand out U.S. maps, and challenge students to trace the route the team will take on the road trip. Have students use the scale of miles to figure out the number of miles the team will cover in that trip.
Have older students use Web pages of national airlines to figure out how
much it would cost them to go along on the road trip!
Variation: Have older students work against one another in
teams. Have each team search a variety of airline sites to determine
the most cost-effective flights. The team who completes the challenge
with the lowest fares wins!
Assessment
Observe students' participation in the activity. Evaluate students' map-reading
skills
