Basketball: The World’s Best Game

Introduction:

You and five of your best friends are basketball crazies. The six of you are going on a “Basketball Field Trip.” Over the course of two week’s, you will visit at least six (6) of your favorite National Basketball Association Arenas. Your budget for this field trip will be $7,000.00. You must stay below your budget! You must consider the following: ticket prices for each game, hotel/motel rates for each night, gas mileage, plane tickets, rentals, food, souvenirs, and entertainment for the duration of your trip. This activity will enable you, to incorporate geography and social studies skills, budgeting and basic math skills, and critical and logical thinking skills in the sports arena, with technology in order to plan a successful trip.

Activity:

The six of you will need to plan this trip according to your geographic locations. You will need to determine the price for 6 tickets for each game. Before you begin, you will also need to create a geographic route, which will enable you to efficiently drive or fly to each arena. Next, you will need to make the appropriate hotel/motel reservations in advance of your trip. You must research all eating facilities in the areas of your chosen arenas. While you will need to budget for at the games, you will also need to eat 2 other meals each day. Do not forget to include gas prices, tolls, and other arena entertainment into your budget.

Process:

For this activity, you will need to go through various steps to complete you “trip.”

First, you will need to determine the 6 arenas and the cities in which they are located that you plan to attend. You will need to create a list that contains the team name, the arena’s name and the city/state location for each destination that will be visited and the ticket prices.

Secondly, you will print a map for each route that will be taking initially from the Baltimore area to each subsequent arena location. You will need to acknowledge which order you will be visiting each city. You must also include the total mileage for, and any toll roads on each route.

Third, you will need to create a list for each hotel/motel you will be using. The list must include, the name and location of the hotel/motel (include the arena/team name as well), the rate for each night, how many nights you will be staying in the particular hotel/motel and any accommodations the hotel/motel provides (i.e. free continental breakfast)

Then you will need to provide a list of restaurant and/or meal accommodations that will be needed and utilized for the duration of the trip. This list must include the restaurant name, the city location, the meal eaten, and the average price for the meal.

Finally, you will need to compile a budget for each of the previous items. A rough draft may be either hand written of typed. This can be done using a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, but need not be. You may create a chart, which outlines the initial budget given ($7,000), the ticket prices for each game, hotel/motel rates for each night in each city, food and entertainment for each day of the trip, plus extra souvenirs, gas, and toll prices throughout your routes to and from each arena as well as the Baltimore area.

Resources:

The following websites can be utilized to determine arena location, available tickets, ticket prices, map routes, hotel/motel prices, gas stations, tolls, and restaurant locations.

National Basketball Association – this site offers a wide range of information regarding the National Basketball association in the USA and Canada. It includes team schedules, team and arena locations, links to team web pages, calendars, availability of tickets, and ticket prices. - http://www.nba.com/

Maps – this site provides detailed road maps to any location inside the U.S. It is user-friendly and easy to read. The maps are also color-coded and printable so you can take them with you on your trip. - http://www.mapquest.com

Travel – this site enables you to search for lodging and entertainment for your trip. It’s very user-friendly and allows you to link to many other sites which will be beneficial in your planning.- http://travel.yahoo.com/

Food – this site is organized by city and metro areas. You will need to choose the cities to which you will travel, and then utilize this website to determine the location, type, and quality of restaurants available.

http://www.restaurants.com/

Plane Tickets and Flights – this site enables you to search for low priced tickets of every airline, as well as, find flights connecting from one airport to another. http://www.planetickets.com/

Evaluation/Rubric:

The following rubric will be used to evaluate your final project.

3 – Project includes 5 complete “lists” or parts of the trip. The first part includes a list of each arena name, team name, city location, and ticket prices. The second part includes printed maps of each route (6) taken to each arena, including the mileage for each and any toll roads. The third part is a list of the hotel names, cities, nightly rates, how many nights, and any accommodations offered by the hotel/motel. The fourth part is a list of restaurant names, cities where they are located, average prices for meals, and the meal eaten. Finally, the budget will include the original, given budget, all tickets prices for each game, hotel rates for each city, food accommodations, gas, plane tickets, mileage, tolls, and any arena souvenirs or other entertainment.

2 – Project includes all five required parts. The first part is only missing arena names. The second part will include all 6 printed maps, but will no have mileage or toll roads. The third part will include all parts but the number of nights stayed. The fourth part is missing the specific meal eaten. Finally, the budget is missing the initial amount provided, and any souvenirs or other entertainment.

1 – Project includes all five parts but they are missing major aspects of each. The first part does not list the team or arena name or ticket prices and just contains the city. The second part only includes 3 printed with all the required elements. The third part only includes the hotel name and city and is missing the rates, the nights stayed and any accommodations. The fourth part only includes the restaurant name and city and is missing the average prices and the meal eaten. Finally, the budget does not include the initial amount given, the ticket prices, the hotel rates or average meal price.

Conclusion:

This Web Quest brings together many skills utilized in the real world and classroom settings. You will become familiarized with planning and adhering to a budget. You will be comfortable searching the web for travel accommodations, which is a tool that will be utilized throughout your life. You will become familiar with many major cities and what each city has to offer in this country. Also, while completing this activity you became familiar with the area of the National basketball Association and all it has to offer. This is a valuable activity in that it combines many real-life skills with many learning tools that are essential.