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PBL Unit Name: Trigonometry Senior Adventure (TSA)

Facilitator Name: Brian Eastman Bruner, Jr.

School Practicum Location: Ben Davis University High School-Indianapolis, IN

Grade: 12th

Subject(s): Mathematics, Geodesy

Course Name: Trigonometry

PBL Unit Description & Content Topics Addressed:The premise of this project is that students traveled overseas and were stranded abroad. They do not have access to an embassy and so, they are required to work, save money and return back home. This project touches on themes of DMS to DD to Radian calculations, Geodesy, Latitude and Longitude and the Spherical Law of Cosines (developmentally appropriate)

A. Learning Goals: Content Knowledge & Skills Addressed (Standards)

  • PS.1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

  • TR.UC.1: Understand radian measure of an angle as the length of the arc on the unit circle subtended by the angle. (Core Standard)

  • TR.G.5: Understand and apply the Laws of Sines and Cosines to solve real-world and other mathematical problems involving right and non-right triangles. (Core Standard)

  • G.CI.4: Solve real-world and other mathematical problems that involve finding measures of circumference, areas of circles and sectors, and arc lengths and related angles (central, inscribed, and intersections of secants and tangents).

  • G.TS.4: Describe sets of points on spheres, including chords, tangents, and great circles.
    PS.3: Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.

  • 9-10.LST.7.1: Conduct short as well as more sustained research assignments and tasks to answer a question (including a self- generated question), test a hypothesis, or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

  • 9-10.LST.7.3: Draw evidence from informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.

B. Authenticity & Relevance (Real-World Connections) : The authentic issue being addressed is the use of exchange rates, travel, distances from any city on the globe to another, geography and political relations. This project is timely because these seniors will most likely take a senior trip after graduation. They need to be aware of the many, many things that can go wrong abroad and need to prepare the necessary precautions to ensure that their trip goes as smoothly as possible, regardless of the country or city they are in. They are practicing a life skill of planning and forethought and anticipation of additional circumstances.

C. Driving Question: Given 60 days, how will you ensure you have enough resources to visit each of your favorite cities and make it back home?

D. Entry Event: I read the following description to the class while in tropical attire (I assumed the role of a Travel Agent throughout the project...and yes, tropical music was playing): You and a small group of your classmates decide to take a trip together after graduating high school. On the way to each of your favorite vacation spots, you end up stuck in another country. To make things worse, the airline has lost your luggage and passports!
Well…
Being the RESOURCEFUL students that you are, you meet up with a translator who gives you all a place to stay and help you get whatever jobs you can find. Given 60 days, will you have enough resources to visit each of your favorite cities and make it back home?


E. Benchmarks & Scaffolding: The benchmarks I used for the project are by using a Deliverable system. They are indicated in the daily Power Point file. I have broken those items out below for your use. Students received feedback on each of the items as they submitted them, electronically, through Google Docs. Feedback was provided to them and directed them towards next steps.

F. End Products: Students were required to submit three items:

#1 - An excel spreadsheet containing distance calculations | Spreadsheet Example

#2 - A report summarizing their conclusions and contains their schedule and budgets | Report Example

#3 - Presentation materials | Presentation Example

G. Formative & Summative Assessment Activities: Formative Assessments were conducted using the previously attached Deliverables. Summative Assessments are conducted using the following rubric.

H. Rubric: TSA Rubric

I. Employability (21st Century) Skills Addressed: Data analysis, Research Skills, Effective Communication, Critical Thinking, Digital Citizenship, General Use of Search Engines, Collaboration, Creativity and Resourcefulness.

J. Community Partners: N/A - Authentic community partners could consist of local embassy personnel that have had issues with travel regulations and restrictions or travel agents.

K. Inquiry: Students were able to demonstrate creative solutions to the problem because there were many problems. They all had the initial time constraint of 60 days, but I never told them how to work or where to work or for how long. They HAD to be creative. However, they did have to choose one additional problem from this Problem List (not to be repeated by another group). In their reports, they laid out the steps they took and in their presentations, they summarized their findings. They showed the same creativity as I did during the entry event. Modeling for them worked wonderfully.

L. Student Voice & Choice: Students had voice and choice by the selection of their favorite cities, the jobs they selected and the time spent in each of their cities. The goal was to visit each city of their group members. They chose, albeit, randomly the additional problem that arose during their journey and they chose their presentation and report format. Nothing was dictated by me except for the deliverable format, and the spreadsheet. I knew those items needed to show some semblance of order in order to model the organization that they needed for their final submissions.

M. Required Materials and/or Tools: Students had access to their Chromebooks which allowed them to get on the internet for research and create Google Slides with their groups. Google Classroom was also utilized.

N. Examples of Student Work: See above under End Products.