Pre-Algebra Road Trip Project

Well, since I'm preparing to start my first year of teaching, I decided that I really needed to finish posting the last few projects I did during my student teaching.  During my last week of student teaching, my cooperating teacher asked me to come up with a creative way to review some of the 8th grade math standards. 
A lot of my students had been struggling with the concept of proportions.  With lots of practice, they had been improving, but many students still weren't comfortable with solving proportions.  I wanted to show students that proportions were definitely applicable to their lives.  So, I created this road trip project.  It actually turned into a 3-part project because the students were enjoying it so much. 

Day 1

Day 2

Each student chose 5 cities to travel to on their road trip.  Using a ruler, they drew out their route on a US map.  Then, using the map scale, students determined the length of their road trip in miles. 

Day 2 was spent using gas mileage and fuel costs for various vehicles to determine which vehicle students would take on their road trip.  On Day 3, we calculated food costs, hotel costs, and rental car costs.  By the end of the 3-day project, students were much, much, much more comfortable working with ratios and proportions.  It was an amazing experience to see the light bulbs go off with so many of my students.   

Road Trip Map and Rubric

Google Doc

PDF

Road Trip Day 1 

Google Doc

PDF

UPDATE: Day 2 and Day 3 have now been posted!  Link to Day 2 and 3