"Shipping Simulation"
Goals:
1. Students demonstrate problem solving skills.
2. Students understand how a budget works and is used.
3. Students apply knowledge from previous lessons to a real life situation.
Materials:
1. Any information from previous lessons that the teacher and students feel necessary to complete the simulation.
Time:
The entire lesson will take 10-13 hrs.
Procedure:
Step 1 Review with the lessons from the previous week and a half with the students. Such as: Checkbook, terms related to ships, Timothy's Job in Timothy of the Cay, the study of different ports, and any other lessons that will be used in the simulation.
Step 2 Show students a sample of a budget, and briefly explain what it means. (Example attached).
Step 3 Pass out the manifests to each team. (Example attached).
Step 4 Each team will pick the ship they think will be best for the job.
Step 5 Teams will write a business letter to the "bank" asking for a loan. The amount they need will be determined by which ship they want. Use this time to explain how a business letter is made and what it is used for. (See attached lesson plan).
Step 6 Once the teams have received the loans and bought their ships, begin the simulation.
Step 7 At the end of each simulation period allow time for a class discussion. The students can share problems and solutions they have encountered so far. This should help the students to be more successful.
Step 8 After final group discussion, give the students some lead off questions for them to answer in their journals. Such as: How does this simulation apply to real life? What did you learn form this simulation? How did you overcome differences within your groups?
Assessment:
1. Teams will turn in a budget. (Criteria for success: Budgets must be completely accurate)
2. Teams must pay off the loan by the end of the simulation. (Criteria for success: At least 80% of the loan should be paid off.)
3. Students demonstrate they can handle the logistics of shipping products. (Criteria for success: Teams deliver 90% of the products in the time given. Bonus points for teams that finish in less time.)
4. Students will turn in journals. (Criteria for success: see journal rubric.)
Curriculum Strands:
Math: Keeping the budget, loading a ship to capacity, problem solving.
Science: Keeping track of weather, and how it will affect the ship.
Language arts: Writing a business letter.
Social Studies: Learning about different cities and ports.
Possible extensions:
1. Expand the simulation into a year long project, with more complicated tasks.
2. Learn more about banking, businesses, and loans.
3. Research how the weather affects the ports and the cities around them.