Lesson Plan: Coordinate Battleship

Audience:

8th – 12th Algebra I

Objective:

Students will plot points on a graph given the coordinates and determine the coordinates given a set of points.

CA Standard:

7.0 (kind of)

Materials:

Battleship Worksheet
Good Ships / Bad Ships Overhead

Time:

Three games take about a half hour.

Procedures:

  1. Pass out the Battleship Worksheet.
  2. Tell them to draw points for the destroyer, submarine, cruiser, and battleships on the “ENEMY’S SHOTS” side.
  3. Use the Good Shots / Bad Shots overhead to model the rules for ship placement. (Alternately, just tell them, “No diagonal ships and no overlapping ships,” walk around and check placement.
  4. Use an overhead copy of Battleship Worksheet to put your own ships down. (Modeling is kind of clutch for this activity.)
  5. Ask for someone to give you the ordered pair coordinate of [gesture at one point on one of your ships].
  6. Pick a student. Ask if she’s finished with her ships. The location of your ships should still be behind you, illuminated by the overhead, but act oblivious to that.
  7. Talk trash. Something about how you’re the best that ever and will be. Then play while the class watches you get demolished and understands how it works.
  8. Pair them up however you want and let them play a few games.

Assessment:

Walk around and check to see that their points are correctly placed and matched up with a coordinate at the top of the page.

Extension:

  1. Put all the boys on one team, all the girls on the other.
  2. Give them each a grid on which to put their fleet. You hold on to these.
  3. Put an overhead up and have them play against each other. Each person on each team shoots in order. No passing answers, though how strict you want to be depends on you.
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I'm Dan and this is my blog. I'm a former high school math teacher and current head of teaching at Desmos. He / him. More here.