| Introduce the lesson by asking students if they play basketball or if they have gone sailing before. Do they know the area of an NBA/College basketball court (the dimensions are 94 feet long and 50 feet wide)? Ask students if they know anything about the USS Constitution and how big her sails are in relation to an NBA/College basketball court. For students who are unfamiliar with the Ship, provide a brief description of her and her historical significance.
Review the types of graphs one can use to display information (e.g., bar & circle). Give the students a piece of graph paper and a copy of the "USS Constitution's Sails" table. Go over the table and show students how to round up to the nearest hundred. Ask the students to create a bar graph for each sail group with the name of the sail on the x-axis and the area (in units of 500) on the y-axis. For differentiated instruction, advanced students can create circle graphs where the total area of each sail group is represented as a percentage of the total area of the 14 sails listed in the table. Graphs should be neat and have color. At the end of class, ask the students which sail(s) are closest in area to a NBA/College basketball court.
For homework, ask students to develop three to five questions about the graph(s) that can be used to analyze and interpret their graphs (e.g., What sail is the biggest? What sail is the smallest? What percentage are the bowspirit sails of the total area?). When class reconvenes, ask students to trade graphs with one another and to answer each other's questions. Students will submit their graphs, their questions, and the answers to their classmate's questions for grading. |
USS Constitution is the oldest commissioned warship afloat in the world. Carrying a crew of 450 men and over 50 guns, she was launched in 1797 to protect America's freedom on the seas. She was undefeated against the British in the War of 1812 and earned the nickname "Old Ironsides" when a sailor saw a cannon ball bounce off her thick, wooden hull during battle. When she was declared unseaworthy in 1828, she was saved by the American people who rallied for her preservation. After a long career, including capturing a slave ship, circumventing the globe, and serving as a military prison, she is now berthed in Boston and is open to the public. For more information, go to www.allhandsondeck.org, www.ussconstitutionmuseum.org, and www.ussconstitution.navy.mil. 
