Design/Modify a Virtual Field Trip

Teacher Name: Kellyn Brimner Grade Level: 6-8

Title of Field Trip: Careers that Count: A Virtual Field Trip with the NBA Subject: Mathematics
URL of Virtual Field http://www.discoveryeducation.com/CareersThatCount/
Trip

Learning Outcomes
List two or three learning outcomes that you want the students to achieve as a result of participating in
the virtual field trip and its related lesson. (be specific & descriptive)

Students will learn about the real-world applications of math, specifically in relation to professional
sports, and why math is necessary for many professional sports careers. Students will begin to
understand how the NBA utilizes math and statistics to create schedules, new rules, to choose
advertising techniques, and to calculate players stats. Students will be able to solve math problems
involving percentages, variables, and models. Students will be able to understand the relationship
between data given in tables and data given as a graph.

Developmental Activities
List 2 or 3 developmental activities (related to your learning outcomes) that you have found or will
develop and then deliver to your class prior to the virtual field trip itself that will focus the students on the
skills necessary to be successful during the virtual field trip and its related lesson. (be specific &
descriptive)

Students will research vocabulary words, statistics, model, percent, equation, area, formula, data, graph,
perimeter, and circumference, using their math text books, and the internet if necessary, before
watching the video, to understand their meaning and application to mathematical problems and to be
able to use them correctly for future problems. Once they have located all the definitions and written
them down in their notes, students will share their understanding of each word to ensure they have the
correct definitions. Students will learn the difference between shapes, such as circle and rectangle, and
use area and perimeter/circumference equations related to both shapes. Students will use the area
formulas for a rectangle, A=LW, and circle, A=(pi)r^2, to calculate the area of a rectangle and a circle,
and the formula for perimeter of a rectangle, P=2(L+W), and the circumference of a circle, C=2(pi)r, to
solve perimeter and circumference problems, with given values for some of the variables above.
Students will learn to manipulate the above equations to solve for missing variables if Length or Width
is missing and Perimeter is given instead. Students will learn how to read graphs and data charts.
Students will start by learning how to plot points on an axis and then plot points given as a set of x- and
y- coordinates with data supplied by the teacher in a chart form to see the relationship between
coordinate points given in a chart and given as a graph. In addition to going from table to graph,
students will be given an activity that has multiple graphs already set up with (x,y) points already
plotted and will also be given a list of tables with (x,y) coordinates written out and the students will
have to match the graph with its table. Students will also be given a graph will (x,y)-coordinates
already plotted and they will have to make their own table of values with an x and a y column and
record the points from the graph into the data table.

Focus Activities
List 2 or 3 focus activities (related to your learning outcomes) that you have found or will develop and
then deliver to your class during the virtual field trip itself that will focus the students on the skills
necessary to be successful during the virtual field trip and its related lesson. (be specific & descriptive)
 During the virtual field trip, students will be given a table of data that includes Field Goals Attempted,
Field Goals Made, the point amount for each type of shot, etc., and will be asked to draw conclusions
based on the data. They will be asked to calculate a player’s average point per shot statistic buy
calculating his total point amount, summing up the point total for the number of 2-pointers and 3-
pointers, and dividing that by the total number of shots the player made. Other calculations will
include calculating the players total number of shots by using his points per shot amount, and the
number of 2-point and 3-point shots he made. Students should make these calculations for multiple
players and then answer a set of questions to compare the results for the players. Follow-up questions
should include: Which player would you use if you needed to make a 3-point shot and why, which
team would you expect to win a basketball game over one of the others and why, using the data given
above and your own calculations, make a graph with the x-axis being the total number of shots
attempted by each player and the y-axis being the total number of points scored by each player, do you
see a pattern?, if so, what is it, etc. Students will also calculate the area and perimeter of the rectangle
the game is played on by using the area and perimeter formulas from the above activities. Students will
create a scale model of the basketball rectangle by using their own height and the height of a given
player. They should measure their height in the classroom and set up a proportion equation with their
height in the numerator and an x for the length of the rectangle in the denominator on one side of the
equation and on the other side the given players height is in the numerator and the length of the
basketball rectangle is in the denominator and they will then solve the proportion equation for x. Once
they have the length of the rectangle, they will divide the old length by the new length to get the scale
factor and multiple it by the width of the regular basketball rectangle to find the new width. Once they
have calculated this, students will share their findings briefly to discover the differences in their model
fields and then they will calculate the area of the model rectangles.

Evaluation Activities
List 2 or 3 evaluation activities (related to your learning outcomes) that you have found or will develop
and then deliver to your class after the virtual field trip itself that will focus the students on the skills
necessary to be successful during the virtual field trip and its related lesson. (be specific & descriptive)

Students will create a short music video about how the NBA utilizes math in its day-to-day running.
Videos should only be a few minutes long and should include the different ways math is used by the
NBA, such as creating schedules, collecting data to create new marketing strategies, and to calculate
the players stats. Students can use their call phones to shoot the video and they may choose to either
create their own song or use an existing song and merely change the lyrics. Students should include at
least four of the words and their definitions they learned in the developmental activity and at least two
equation they used in any of the previous activities. Students may complete this activity in a group of
three or four. For full points, students must demonstrate their understanding of the concepts by using
the vocabulary words correctly and integrating the equations in a concise and coherent manner.
Students will synthesize date given multiple ways to create a short marketing promotion video. To
start, students will be given a data table with an x variable of specific marketing strategies, such as TV
commercials, videos on Facebook, emails, radio shows, etc., and a y variable of the percentage of
people who watched/read the entire promo, the product and be any product either the student or
teacher chooses. They will also be given a graph showing an x-axis of the percentage of people who
watched/ read the entire promotion and a y-axis showing the likelihood of the customer buying or
subscribing to the product offered in the marketing promotion. Students will then have to decide,
based off the data given in the table and the graph, what the best marketing decision is to make for
their selected audience and support their decision with reasoning and examples from the data given.
After they have made their decision on the marketing strategy and explained it thoroughly, the
students will then make a short marketing promotion video that would be used on that type of media,
 such as a TV commercial or a radio show. The video should be no longer than a few minutes and
should employ the strategy they choose based on their data synthesis.

Instructional Materials
List the materials needed to conduct this virtual field trip and activities. Be specific and complete so as to
prepare another teacher to be able to use your virtual field trip lesson with their class. (be specific &
descriptive)
Materials needed for this lesson include a computer with internet access and speakers. Students will
need access to a textbook to complete their developmental activities. Students will also need access to
their cell phones to complete their evaluation activities. Teacher will need to prepare a worksheet that
has problems for the students to complete for the focus activities, including math problems, and word
definition matching. The teacher will also need to have table and graphs drawn up for the data
necessary for the marketing promotion evaluation activity