Pam Trobiano
Tools Vis EDTC 635
Project
 You are a roller coaster enthusiast and want to travel to
the amusement parks with the most thrilling roller
coasters.
 Research the top 5 roller coasters with the greatest
slopes.
 Mark them on a map of the United States and plan a
trip to travel to all five places.
 Calculate route distance, time and cost.
Target Audience & Standards
 8th grade students
 Math class – approximately 30 students per class
 Beginning of school year
 CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.2.b
 CCSS.Math.Content.7.RP.A.1
 CCSS.Math.Content.8.EE.B.5
 CCSS.Math.Content.8.EE.C.7
Goals and Objectives
 SWBAT research the top 5 steepest roller coasters in
the United States.
 SWBAT locate these cities on a Google map of the US
and create points.
 SWBAT map a route connecting all five places.
 SWBAT calculate total distance, time and cost for the
trip.
Research
Theme Park Locations
Distance Route
Area Covered
Distance Example
Use the map distances…
Distance
Clifton to Salem
199 miles
Salem to Hershey
330 miles
Hershey to Monticello
530 miles
Monticello to Bloomington
432 miles
Bloomington to Farmington
958 miles
Farmington to Clifton
1,935 miles
Cost
Time
Brainy Bits – Limbic System
 Thamalus - sensory information goes through the
brain here first before being directed to other parts of
the brain. Students are taking in information from
sight, sound and touch all throughout the lesson.
 Hypothalamus -regulates internal systems.
If this is off balanced the student may have a hard time
focusing during the lesson.
For example if they are tired or hungry
Brainy Bits – Limbic System
 Hippocampus- Takes working memories and converts
to long term storage. As the project is going on,
students will being taking the memory of the project
and putting it into long term storage for future
research topics. Also compares to previous
experiences, students may have personally been on a
roller coaster or road trip
 Amygdala- regulates emotions. If students enjoy the
project, future research may come easier to them. IF
they are frustrated during it, they could fear projects.
Pedagogy Piece- Multiple Intelligences
 Visual- Map with points has the visual route
 Verbal- Understand directions from teacher, follow
directions to create maps, read research
 Intrapersonal- Independent project- all the work is
done by the student.
 Math/Logical – calculating the distance, cost, time
 Kinesthetic- places the points on the map, dragging
the lines to create routes and area covered
Pedagogy Piece- Sense & Meaning
 Sense comes from whether the student can understand the
concept based on their experience. Students can make
sense of researching steep roller coasters and traveling to
them. This is an activity many students would consider
doing.
 Meaning is when it is relevant to the student. Students
most likely will visit theme parks or even go on some sort of
road trip in their lifetimes.
Citations
 http://www.corestandards.org/Math/
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_roller_coaster_ra
nkings
 http://rollercoaster.wikia.com/wiki/Steepest_Drop_on
_a_Roller_Coaster
 Sousa, David A. How The Brain Learns. 3rd ed.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2006. Print.