Goals:

1. The students will use details from Kidnapped to trace David Balfour's travels in Scotland.
2. The students will use maps, a map scale, and a ruler to calculate the number of miles David traveled while he was kidnapped, after his escape and during his return the House of Shaws.
3. The students will calculate practical distances within their school's area, city or state.
4. The students will improve their public speaking skills through brief presentations. (Not assessed - Just gaining experience standing in front of the class and speaking.)

Resources:

1. Multiple copies of Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson (Dover Publications, Inc., 1996)
2. Detailed map of Scotland with map scale
3. Detailed map of school's city and state
4. Rulers
5. Pencils
6. Paper

Time:

Not counting the time it will take to read the novel, this lesson will require between two and 2.5 hours of classroom time.

Procedure:

1. Read Kidnapped.
2. Divide the students into teams of three or four.
3. Each team will identify the different places David Balfour traveled and the order in which he traveled to the various places. Each team will make a log of his journey.
4. Each team will use a map of Scotland to trace David's adventure. They will connect two consecutive places traveled with a directional arrow.
5. Using a ruler and the map scale, each team will calculate the approximate distance David traveled.
6. Each team will present their map of David's journey and their estimation of miles traveled to the class.
7. The teams will compare their findings to other teams' and the teacher's findings. The teacher will lead a discussion on how topography (E.g. - mountains, rivers, lakes, etc.) affect the total distance David travels.
8. Distribute city and state maps where the school resides. Taking into account the information from the topography discussion, the students will calculate the distances from their house to school, their house to two friends' house and their house to state's capital.

Assessment:

1. Each team must turn in a log of David's journey. (Criteria for success - Each team must correctly identify 85% of the places.)
2. Each team must turn in a map with David Balfour's journey outlined. (Criteria for success - The map must include David's path traveled with places clearly identified according to the team's log.)
3. Showing all steps, each team must turn in their calculations of the approximate number of miles David traveled. (Criteria for success - The approximate distance should be estimated within five miles of the path traced on the team's map.)
4. Showing all steps, each person must turn in their calculations of the approximate distance from the student's house to each of the four points listed in the procedure. (Criteria for success - The distances should be calculated within a half mile for distances within the school district and five miles to the capital city.)

Curricular Stands and Major Concepts:

1. Language Arts - Using clues from the novel to complete the map and distance activity along with presentations of their data.
2. Math - Using the map scale and ruler to calculate distance and determining how topography affect distance.
3. Social Studies - Map reading, geography and topography of Scotland.

Possible Extensions:

1. Orienteering by following a route using a map and a compass.
2. Create a topographic map of Scotland.
3. Teach students to use the distance formula.
4. Calculate distance equals rate times time problems.
   
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