Grade 10 - 12

Materials Required
- map of the United States
- computer with Internet
- wall map of the US
- map pins
- colored pencils
- question sheet

Objective:  The student will be able to
- locate major US cities on the map provided
- determine what population a city needs to support a professional sport
- determine what cities would be more suited for expansion teams
- answer questions concerning the activity
- analyze the map and its information

Procedure
- Have the students use the Internet to locate all major league football, baseball, basketball, soccer and hockey teams in the United States  (www.nfl.com, www.mlb.com, www.nba.com,  www.mls.com, and www.nhl.com)
- Then use the chart provided to mark which teams belong to which city (if one city has more than one team, use multiple marks)
- After, using a separate colored pencil for each sport, mark on the map the locations of the sports teams (be sure to make a key for the map)
- Then, using map pins, transfer the data to the wall map.
- Closing: following questions will be answered

1. What size town seems to be the smallest a major league sport can survive in?
2. According to size, what cities aren’t represented with a professional sport that should be (if size were the only factor?)
3. What city could support a new football team?  Baseball team?  Basketball team?  Soccer team?  Hockey team?
4. What region seems to lack professional sports?  Why do you think that is?
5. What factors other than population might factor in to the decision on where professional teams are placed?

Student assessment
-    Was the research on sports teams correct and complete?
- Are the cities located correctly on the map?
- Were the questions answered completely?
 
 

Self – Assessment
- Was the activity interesting?
- Was the whole class involved in a task at all times?
- Were the questions challenging enough and did they wrap up the activity?
- Did I guide the students in the activity and describe the objectives completely?
- Were the objectives met?