Curated OER
Cafeteria Mayhem
Students design a cafeteria floor plan. In this area and perimeter lesson, groups create an efficient lunchroom layout on poster board by using geometric shapes and formulas as the basis for their designs. In the accompanying writing...
Curated OER
Polydron Fun
Young scholars investigate nets as they relate to volume and area. In this geometry instructional activity, students use nets as a visual to deepen their understanding of surface area and volume of objects. They make conjectures about...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Effects of Friction on a Moving Block
Students investigate how friction affects the movement of a block across surface areas. They test five different kinds of surfaces—smooth surface, wax paper, a paper towel, course, and fine sandpaper. They predict and record the results...
Curated OER
Cooking Up Something Good
Students compare and convert units of measurement within the United States customary system and within the metric system by baking cookies. Students discuss how to double the cookie recipe, how to make only half of the recipe, and how to...
Curated OER
Camping with a Triangular Prism and Its Net
Students differentiate triangular prisms from other prisms using nets. In this geometry lesson, students define the properties of a triangular prism and its symmetry. They build a triangular prism moving lines around.
Curated OER
Box Folding: Predict, Analyze and Measure
Students predict the shape of a geometric figure in 3D. In this geometry lesson, students construct 3D shapes to perfect their knowledge of measuring and predicting. This assignment is also available as an online interactive lesson.
Curated OER
Animal Skin
Students investigate the skin surface to body area ratios for different animals. In this seventh/eighth grade mathematics/science lesson, students explore heat transfer between an animal’s body and the environment. Using...
Curated OER
Polyhedra
Students analyze convex polyhedra through hands on methods. In this geometrical shapes lesson, students construct paper models of convex polyhedra and identify the different properties including the number of sides, faces and edges.
Curated OER
Volumes of Solids of Revolution (Shell Method)
Students find the volume of solids and disks. In this finding the volume of solids and disks instructional activity, students find the volume using the washer, disk, and shell method. Students integrate functions in terms of...
Curated OER
Geometry and Measurement
Middle schoolers view a right triangle displayed by the teacher. Students measure legs and the interior angles of the triangle. They look for a pattern or relationship between the legs and angles. Middle schoolers use pegboards and...
Curated OER
Mathematics: It's a Wrap!
Learners calculate the amount of wrapping paper needed to wrap boxes. They describe how they determined their answers.
Mathematics Assessment Project
Designing 3d Products: Candy Cartons
Wouldn't it be great to work in a candy factory? Learners get their chance as they first design a carton for a candy that meets certain requirements. They then examine and analyze nets and explanations in sample student responses.
Curated OER
New Boxes from Old
Ninth graders take a rectangular box (e.g., a cereal box) and cut it up to make a new, cubical box with the same volume as the original. In so doing, they will discover that because the cubical box has less surface area than the...
Curated OER
Does Size Matter?
Learners explore the surface area to volume ratio in cellular respiration. While participating in an interactive lab experiment, they examine proportional surface area and discuss nanotechnology. Students observe the effectiveness of...
Curated OER
Cheerios- Not Just for Breakfast Anymore
Second graders measure surface area and perimeter using estimation. They complete a variety of measurement activities using Cheerios breakfast cereal.
Curated OER
Why Are Cells So Small?
Students examine the relationship between cell surface area and the ability of materials to diffuse through a cell. They participate in an experiment in which they determine which materials diffuse easier than others. They complete...
Curated OER
Watershed Investigations
Learners explore the components of a watershed and the factors that affect it. They read a topographical map and use geometry to determine the area of a watershed. Students estimate the volume of a body of water and perform runoff...
Curated OER
STRETCHING SPRING
Students calculate the length, width, height, perimeter, area, volume, surface area, angle measures or sums of angle measures of common geometric figures. They create an equation of a line of best fit from a set of ordered pairs or...
Curated OER
Nanofibers: Why Go Small?
Students explore the surface ratio of an object. For this surface area to volume lesson students construct a data table, make calculations and create a graph.
Virginia Department of Education
Going the Distance
Estimate the value of one of the most famous irrational numbers. The hands-on lesson instructs classmates to measure the circumference and diameters of circles using yarn. The ratio of these quantities defines pi.
Curated OER
Around the Clock
Students discover the relationship between the circumference of a circle and its diameter. They find the length of an arc of a circle.Students use estimation strategies in real-world applications to predict results (i.e., interpolation...
Teach Engineering
The Amazing Aerogel
Introducing ... the aerogel. The first of a two-installment series teaches young engineers about the properties and uses of aerogels. A PowerPoint presentation provides information about this unique material to help solidify the concept.
Curated OER
Using Concept Maps to Design 3D Spheres
Students create three dimensional shapes using concept maps. In this geometry lesson, students investigate the impact of mental schemas on humans. They collect data on this topic and plot their data on a coordinate plane.
Curated OER
The Calculus Whiz Who Loved Candy
Students develop an equation for finding the volume of a commonly known piece of candy (M&M, Hershey's Kiss, Tootsie Roll Pop, Life Saver, etc.) by using calculus.