Arrrgh Ye Ready Fer School?

Challenge
Arrrrrre you aware that September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Get ye mateys aboard for this month’s challenge, which is pirate themed. Treasure maps were popular among the crew to look for their booty. They included symbols, directions, pictures, booby traps, keys, and other forms of communication to help remember where their treasure was hidden. Your challenge this month is to create a treasure map to locate a certain place or object. It focuses on the engineering practice of generating and comparing multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria of the problem. What kind of map will be best? What should be included on a map? How can the communication be clear and directions easy to follow?
 
Your treasure map does have some criteria and constraints. Make sure all groups are creating a treasure map to the same place and starting from the same location. This way groups will be able to compare their solutions. A rubric or system of comparing should be devised to regulate map comparisons. Rubric components could include ease of reading map, ability to find the treasure according to the map, design, or type of directions.

Materials

• various large, colors and sizes of paper
• markers
• pens
• pencils

Hints and Tips for Success

1. Allow students planning, discussion, and research time to decide how they would like to set up their maps, what symbols to use, and how they will communicate their directions on the map.
2. After research, allow student groups to plan and create their final design. Include as many ways to improve their maps as needed.
3. For differentiation, adjust the amount of materials available and allowed to use, add any additional materials, show students map examples, start with an easy map/location, include multiple stops or treasure items. Adjustments could be made to make it more challenging or simpler.
4. Make sure to standardize the locations students have to start and stop at. If needed, secretly provide different locations students need to map so students are not all going to the same place.
5. Discuss pros and cons of map making.
6. Connect to social studies by discussing map keys, cartography, map scale, pirate history, directions, compass rose, etc.
7. Connect to art by discussing scale, proportion, quantity, distance, viewpoint, etc.
8. Connect to math by discussing the coordinate grid system, measurement, conversions, etc.