US Department of Commerce
My Dream Home
Dream big or go home. After analyzing a bar graph on the number of bedrooms in US homes derived from census data, scholars design their own dream homes. They cut out two-dimensional shapes from construction paper to create models of...
Radford University
Coal Silo Design Task
The coal is mined. Now what? Scholars design a coal silo that stores mined earth using at least two different three-dimensional shapes. They calculate the volume, determine the amount of mined earth produced in a day, and find the amount...
Radford University
Exploring Coal Pillar Mining
Coal mines can be a gold mine of math applications. After reading some basic information on coal mining, learners draw blueprints of a coal pillar in the shape of a composite figure. They find the volume of material from the coal pillar...
CCSS Math Activities
Smarter Balanced Sample Items: 7th Grade Math – Claim 2
To solve or not to solve that is the problem. A slide presentation of 17 items show different ways that Smarter Balanced assesses Claim 2, problem solving. The items span from sixth and seventh grade concepts to highlight the...
Concord Consortium
Strings and Areas
You'd be surprised what you can do with a string! The constraint is the length of string, and the task is to maximize area. Given a series of composite shapes, learners must create a formula for the maximum area for a specified...
101 Questions
2010 Guatemalan Sinkhole
Dig deep into a lesson studying volume. Learners view images of a Guatemalan sinkhole that seems too big to be true! Their task is to determine the amount of material needed to fill the hole using information from news articles and videos.
101 Questions
Toilet Paper Roll
You won't want to flush a great lesson down the drain! An intriguing resource asks learners to predict the number of sheets of toilet paper on a roll. Presented with the dimensions of the roll and one sheet of paper, scholars make...
101 Questions
Coffee Traveler
Investigate the volume of irregular figures in an inquiry-based exercise. Presented with an irregularly shaped box filled with water, learners must predict the level of water when it is tipped on its side. The class can divide the figure...
EngageNY
End-of-Module Assessment Task: Grade 7 Mathematics Module 6
Determine the level of understanding within your classes using a summative assessment. As the final lesson in a 29-part module, the goal is to assess the topics addressed during the unit. Concepts range from linear angle relationships,...
EngageNY
Real-World Area Problems
Not all structures take the shape of a polygon. The 21st lesson in a series of 29 shows young mathematicians they can create polygons out of composite shapes. Once they deconstruct the structures, they find the area of the composite figure.
Virginia Department of Education
Area and Perimeter
Develop a strategy for finding the area and perimeter of irregular figures. Building on an understanding of finding area and perimeter of rectangles and triangles, learners apply the same concepts to composite figures. After practicing...
EngageNY
Volume of Composite Solids
Take finding volume of 3-D figures to the next level. In the 22nd lesson of the series, learners find the volume of composite solids. The lesson the asks them to deconstruct the composites into familiar figures and use volume formulas.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Calculating Volumes of Compound Objects
After determining the volume of various drinking glasses , class members evaluate sample responses to the same task to identify errors in reasoning.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Candle Box
Individuals draw a net for a hexagonal pyramid — with some stipulations. The net must contain the printed images so they appear correctly on the box, along with tabs to glue the box together.
NASA
Next Generation Spacecraft—Orion
What is the cross-sectional area of the Orion spacecraft? Groups work together to estimate the area of a cross section of the Orion spacecraft by first counting the number of grids a scale drawing covers. Pupils also employ a method...