What Is Surface Area?
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
This activity prepares students to think about surface area, which they explore in this lesson and in upcoming lessons. Students watch a video of a cabinet being gradually tiled with non-overlapping sticky notes. The cabinet was left only partially tiled, which raises the question of the number of sticky notes it takes to cover the entire rectangular prism. Students estimate the answer to this question.
This activity was inspired by Andrew Stadel. Media used with permission. http://www.estimation180.com/filecabinet.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 2. Show the video of a teacher beginning to cover a large cabinet with sticky notes or display the following still images for all to see. Before starting the video or displaying the image, ask students to be prepared to share one thing they notice and one thing they wonder.
A man begins covering a file cabinet with post-it notes and numbers them as he goes.
Give students a minute to share their observation and question with a partner. Invite a few students to share their questions with the class. If the question, “How many sticky notes would it take to cover the entire cabinet?”, is not mentioned, ask if anyone wondered how many sticky notes it would take to cover the entire cabinet.
Give students a minute to make an estimate.
Student Task
Your teacher will show you a video about a cabinet or some pictures of it.
Estimate an answer to the question: How many sticky notes would it take to cover the cabinet, excluding the bottom?
Sample Response
Estimates vary. The actual number of sticky notes is 935. Good estimates are in the 800–1,200 range.
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Poll the class for students' estimates, and record them for all to see. Invite a couple of students to share how they made their estimate. Explain to students that they will now think about how to answer this question.
Standards
- 6.G.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- 6.G.A.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
20 min
10 min
Knowledge Components
All skills for this lesson
No KCs tagged for this lesson
What Is Surface Area?
5 min
Teacher Prep
Setup
Narrative
This activity prepares students to think about surface area, which they explore in this lesson and in upcoming lessons. Students watch a video of a cabinet being gradually tiled with non-overlapping sticky notes. The cabinet was left only partially tiled, which raises the question of the number of sticky notes it takes to cover the entire rectangular prism. Students estimate the answer to this question.
This activity was inspired by Andrew Stadel. Media used with permission. http://www.estimation180.com/filecabinet.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 2. Show the video of a teacher beginning to cover a large cabinet with sticky notes or display the following still images for all to see. Before starting the video or displaying the image, ask students to be prepared to share one thing they notice and one thing they wonder.
A man begins covering a file cabinet with post-it notes and numbers them as he goes.
Give students a minute to share their observation and question with a partner. Invite a few students to share their questions with the class. If the question, “How many sticky notes would it take to cover the entire cabinet?”, is not mentioned, ask if anyone wondered how many sticky notes it would take to cover the entire cabinet.
Give students a minute to make an estimate.
Student Task
Your teacher will show you a video about a cabinet or some pictures of it.
Estimate an answer to the question: How many sticky notes would it take to cover the cabinet, excluding the bottom?
Sample Response
Estimates vary. The actual number of sticky notes is 935. Good estimates are in the 800–1,200 range.
Activity Synthesis (Teacher Notes)
Poll the class for students' estimates, and record them for all to see. Invite a couple of students to share how they made their estimate. Explain to students that they will now think about how to answer this question.
Standards
- 6.G.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.
- 6.G.A.4·Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures. Apply these techniques in the context of solving real-world and mathematical problems.