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1007936
A set of activities developed for middle school students on aspects of polyhedra. The teacher-creator, Suzanne Alejandre, includes not only instructions for each activity but also assessment suggestions and her mathematical objectives for the unit.

Summary

Subject keyword(s)Education, Geometry, Mathematics, Polyhedra, Process skills, Solid geometry, Spatial sense, Visualization
Grade levelMiddle School, High School, Vocational/Professional Development Education
Intended audienceEducator, Professional/Practitioner
Resource typeInstructional Material
Resource formattext, text/html
Rights1994-2009 Drexel University. All rights reserved

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MSP2: Math and Science Pathways

Content contained within the resource

A Math Forum Web Unit Polyhedra in the Classroom SuzanneAlejandre Tessellation Tutorials ||MagicSquares ||Suzanne's Math Lessons Portuguese Translation by Alexandra Pinheiro and Fernando Nunes As part of the Rialto Unified School District, Frisbie Middle Schoolis using the Glencoe instructional materials to teach mathematics. Theunit presented here uses the objectives found in Unit 14 of Glencoe'sInteractive Mathematics, but the activities have been designedso that students can take extra time on specific mathematicalideas. This unit works well if the class can regularly go to a computerlab with Internet access and/or if the classroom has computers withInternet access. Student Activities Introductionto Polyhedra Rectangular Prism: A cooperative group activity to construct perfect rectangular prisms. Paper Nets Print out nets and construct six paper models of polyhedra. KaleidoTile Learn how a tiling is built up from reflections of a single tile, reflect a triangle, and explore Euclidean and spherical symmetry groups. KaleidoTileHandout A chart of the questions used by groups of students working with KaleidoTile. KaleidoTileSoftware Download the software (free) from the Geometry Center. Buckyballs Links to Web sites with information on Carbon-60 (buckyball), a real world example of a polyhedron. Paper Net of a Buckyball Print out the net and construct a model of a buckyball. Extra Credit Buckyball Speech Challenge students to stand and speak about buckyballs. Crystals Information on real world polyhedra crystalline structures. Systems of Crystals Information on the seven crystal systems with links to photographs of examples. Paper Nets of Crystals Print out nets and construct paper models of the polyhedra that are crystals. CrystalMaker2.0 Interactive Crystallography - download the CrystalMaker demo for regular or PowerPC Mac's. HyperCard Polyhedra Animation Use HyperCard (Macintosh) to show polyhedra in motion. Students draw polyhedra and rotate their figures. Elephant Puzzle Print the puzzle and challenge the students to fold the net so that the elephant parts fit together correctly. Cube Coloring Problem Problem-solving using manipulatives. Another Cube Coloring Problem Large Cube and Painted Faces" - Geometry Problem of the Week, 9/30/96. Polyhedra Speech Challenge students to stand and speak about their polyhedra models. Journal Entry Students describe polyhedra on the Web, using journal writing to process their learning. Polyhedra on the Web Links to Web sites with beautiful models of polyhedra. Polyhedra Essay Assessment of what the students have learned about polyhedra. ObjectivesUnit 14 is the second of six units for 8th grade students. The Unit objectives are: to introduce the students to the concepts of surface area and volumewhile focusing on the importance of measurement. to teach the relation between surface area and volume and apply this invarious settings.My specific objectives for the unit are: Students will calculate the surface area of a rectangular prism. (NCTM Grades 6-8 Standards Geometry and Measurement) Students will name the characteristics (number of edges, faces,vertices, and the shape of the face) of 6 specific polyhedra: the cube,tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, and cuboctahedron. (NCTM Grades 6-8 Standards Geometry and Measurement) Students will use the writing process to demonstrate understanding ofthe characteristics of polyhedra. (NCTM Grades 6-8 Standards Communication) Students will verbally describe polyhedra. (NCTM Grades 6-8 Standards Communication) Students will explore polyhedra in the real world through crystallinestructures and "buckyballs." (NCTM Grades 6-8 Standards Connections) AssessmentStudents are assessed as they complete each activity. Group participationpoints are given if the students have been actively engaged in their groupactivity. Individual completion points are given as the activity orassignment is completed. Points are given to students who stand and give aspeech on one of the polyhedra. The Polyhedra Essay is the final unitassessment. Toreceive full points on the essay all of the components of the essay mustbe addressed. [Privacy Policy] [Terms of Use] Home || The Math Library || Quick Reference || Search || Help  © 1994-2012 Drexel University. All rights reserved. http://mathforum.org/ The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Goodwin College of Professional Studies. Please mail comments and suggestions to Suzanne Alejandre