Unit A5: Travel Maths All ACM Strands

Middle Years

Teacher: Rebecca Paterson

Ocean View College

Alberton Cluster

Unit Overview – International Mindedness

Ever wanted to compete in the Amazing Race?

Well here is your chance!

You and your classmates will travel around the world and discover some of the great wonders of the world and examine them mathematically. Happy and safe travels, enjoy!!

  1. The class will first select a country to visit from a world map. Students will work in pairs to do this. Every continent must be visited across the whole class at least once.
  2. Once this has been mapped out, as a class we will map out a route on the interactive whiteboard as to where we will travel as a whole class. E.g. from Australia to Fiji, Fiji to Canada, Canada to America. The students must pick the most economical route to travel. Maths – Mapping, direction, co-ordinates.
  3. Students will then investigate their own countries. They will need work out how to travel from the previously mapped location to their own country destination. How will they get there? i.e. plane, bus, train etc.
  4. The around the world trip will have a total budget. This will be decided by the students and then divided up evenly between the groups for them to spend accordingly at each destination.

Speakers in schools DECS – Advantage SA. Guest speaker – Travel agent.

·  Get away – Digital viewing

·  Discover T.V show – Guest speaker.

·  Google Earth

Start unit by watching makeitcount film on youtube https://www.facebook.com/cneistat. Discussion.

Students start by making a passport. Photo headshots to be taken.

Individual investigation

Students will visit http://www.travelmath.com/flying-distance/from/Adelaide,+Australia/to/Fiji and create a map that details the miles, kilometres and nautical miles between locations.

Students are to visit http://www.world-airport-codes.com/ and other websites to determine how they are getting to and from their destination.

Students are to work out the currency exchange rates for their country http://www.oanda.com/currency/converter/

Students investigate the time zones for their region http://www.timezoneconverter.com/

Students visit the bureau of meteorology website to view weather conditions in the country they are visiting http://www.bom.gov.au/global/?hdr

Travel terms

You must stick to your budget – YOU CAN”T GO OVER.

You can stay at your destination for a maximum of 5 days.

List a major built attraction you would like to visit. I.e. The Great Wall in China.

-  How much does it cost to visit?

-  What year was it built?

-  What is the height, length and volume of the attraction?

List total expenses by creating a budget spreadsheet. What will you spend for meals, transport, attractions and souvenirs (use converted currency and also table AU)?

Now we are ready for our amazing race. The school map will be watermarked with a map of the world over the top.

Students will start their race at their own destination. A final destination spot is what the students must reach. At each checkpoint students will be have to complete an activity. I.e. eat a food item from that country, solve a maths problem, answer a geographical question etc. Senior school students will meet and greet students at each location. A photographer will be following the event. Each student must complete the amazing race. There will be prizes for first, second and third. A list of rules and instructions will be given to the students before the race begins. One person in the team must take a clip board and checklist to ensure that they have reached the check in stations.

Mathematical Content

Number and Place Value / Measurement and Geometry / Statistics and Probability
7 - Money and Financial Mathematics – currency exchange, budgets. / 7 - Units of measurement – miles, km’s and nautical miles, length, width, area, volume. / 7 - Data representation and interpretation – data collection from primary and secondary sources.
7 - Linear and non-linear relationships – i.e. plotting co-ordinates, analysing graphs from authentic data. / 6 – Interpret and use timetables. / 6 – Explore and compare a range of data.
6 – Adding and subtracting decimals. / 5 – Choose appropriate units of measurement for length, area, volume, capacity and mass. / 5 – Construct displays, including column graphs and tables appropriate for data type with and without the use of digital technologies.
5 – estimating and rounding. / 5 – Conversions between time. / 5 – Describe and interpret different data sets in context.
5 – Use efficient mental and written strategies and apply appropriate digital technologies to solve problems. / 5 – Connect three-dimensional objects with their nets and other two-dimensional representation.
5 – Create simple financial plans / 5 – describe routes and landmarks.

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