When I was first looking into the price of a gallon of gas, I found this website from the Government's Energy Information Administration (EIA). A problem with the site is it hasn't been updated and compares the price from 2000-2007 and 2007 alone. I need to know the breakdown for 2008. I noticed that percent for taxes went down as the price increases; this makes sense because the dollar amount of the tax stays the same no matter what the price.
Since my class covers proportions , it would be a good lesson plan to use this information to discover the new percentages from a price for 2008. This is an optional activity and does not need to be completed to join the project, but is a good extension of the project.
The website from the EIA is also a good website to introduce the project to your class.
I have also found a breakdown of the price of gas from the State of Maryland and the State of Michigan.
Another lesson could be to compare these states and the US government and see if they are all the same if gas prices are $4.00 a gallon.