Go over what a scale drawing is and why different scale sizes might be used. Review simplifying fractions and writing and solving proportions. You will have to put the cities you want found on the worksheet or you can allow the students to find the cities they like. Tell the students that a scale drawing is an enlarged or reduced drawing of an object. Maps are much smaller than what they represent, yet a scale drawing of a cell might be much larger than it is actual size.
People use maps when they are trying to find the actual distance from one location to another.
Ask how many of them have lived in a different town, state, or country. Your problem today is that you work for the TxDOT and you are in charge of sending a work crew to go work on the highways in Texas. You will need to find the distance from your town to each work area. When measuring the distances I want you to ask yourself why is it that the distance by road is longer than the distance calculated by the map. Tell students that they will be working in-groups of four, and it will be their job to locate all the cities on the worksheet.