MAFS.912.G-MG.1.1Archived Standard

Students are asked to name geometric solids that could be used to model several objects.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to model a tree trunk with geometric solids and to use the model to estimate the volume of the tree trunk.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the measure of an angle formed by the support poles of a tent using the properties of geometric shapes.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to select appropriate geometric shapes to model a lake and then use the model to estimate the surface area of the lake.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students apply geometric measures and methods, art knowledge, contextual information, and utilize clear and coherent writing to analyze NASA space shuttle mission patches from both a mathematical design and visual arts perspective.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

The historic Cape Florida Lighthouse, often described as a conical tower, teems with mathematical applications. This lesson focuses on the change in volume and lateral surface area throughout its storied existence.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students use measures and properties of rectangular prisms and cylinders to model and rank 3D printable designs of interchangeable wristwatch bands that satisfy physical constraints.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be introduced to the undefinable concepts of points, lines, and planes that are the building blocks of geometry and recognize that these three terms become the basis for many other geometric definitions. Students will participate in a Building Block Scavenger Hunt, using cameras to photograph examples of specified terms that they find outside of the math classroom. The students will compose a power point to display their photographs of the required terms.
This lesson is adapted from a presentation that included an activity by Dianne Olix, 1995.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson unit is intended to help you assess how well students are able to choose appropriate mathematics to solve a non-routine problem, generate useful data by systematically controlling variables and develop experimental and analytical models of a physical situation.

Type: Lesson Plan

A Pi-ece of Florida History discovers significant dates in Florida History in the first 8 digits after the decimal of the number Pi. Historical people associated with those dates are identified and described. Students then use body measurements to approximate volume.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson can be used as an introduction - unit attention grabber- or as a final review on quadrilaterals. As the class forms a Sonobe cube, the different quadrilaterals are formed with each new fold. Included is a Power Point introduction with instructions, a video I made demonstrating how to fold the unit origami design, a video of my lesson I use as a middle or high school introduction to quadrilaterals and 2 worksheets which accompany the lesson. I enjoy doing this activity each year and am amazed at all the prior knowledge the students have retained as the lesson proceeds.

Type: Lesson Plan

The Turning Tires MEA provides students with an engineering problem in which they must work as a team to design a procedure to select the best tire material for certain situations. The main focus of the MEA is applying surface area concepts and algebra through modeling.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

A Pi-ece of Florida History discovers significant dates in Florida History in the first 8 digits after the decimal of the number Pi. Historical people associated with those dates are identified and described. Students then use body measurements to approximate volume.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson can be used as an introduction - unit attention grabber- or as a final review on quadrilaterals. As the class forms a Sonobe cube, the different quadrilaterals are formed with each new fold. Included is a Power Point introduction with instructions, a video I made demonstrating how to fold the unit origami design, a video of my introduction lesson  to quadrilaterals and 2 worksheets which accompany the lesson. I enjoy doing this activity each year and am amazed at all the prior knowledge the students have retained as the lesson proceeds.

Type: Lesson Plan

To understand atmospheric and oceanic currents, one needs a well-rounded understanding of geometry and the shape of the Earth.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

A bio-mathematician discusses the folds and the structure of the brain and how they relate to math.

Type: Perspectives Video: Expert

Ken Blackburn, an aerospace engineer for the United States Air Force, describes the relationship between wing shape and flight performance. 

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Complex 3D shapes are often created using simple 3D primitives! Tune in and shape up as you learn about this application of geometry!

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Viruses aren't alive but they still need to stay in shape! Learn more about the geometric forms of bacteriophages!

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

The purpose of this task is to engage students in geometric modeling, and in particular to deduce algebraic relationships between variables stemming from geometric constraints.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Using a chart of diameters of different denominations of coins, students are asked to figure out how many coins fit around a central coin. (For this task, United States coins are used, but the task can be adapted for coins from other countries.)

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem asks students to model phenomena on the surface of the earth by examining the visibility of the lamp in a lighthouse from a boat.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem solving task encourages students to explore why solar eclipses are rare by examining the radius of the sun and the furthest distance between the moon and the earth.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This provides an opportunity to model a concrete situation with mathematics. Once a representative picture of the situation described in the problem is drawn (the teacher may provide guidance here as necessary), the solution of the task requires an understanding of the definition of the sine function.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

The goal of this task is to model a familiar object, an Olympic track, using geometric shapes. Calculations of perimeters of these shapes explain the staggered start of runners in a 400 meter race.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

In this problem, geometry is applied to a 400 meter track to find the perimeter of the track.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem solving task asks students to explain which measurements are needed to estimate the thickness of a soda can. Multiple solution processes are presented.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem solving task challenges students to find the surface area of a soda can, calculate how many cubic centimeters of aluminum it contains, and estimate how thick it is.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This is a mathematical modeling task aimed at making a reasonable estimate for something which is too large to count accurately, the number of leaves on a tree.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This is a mathematical modeling task aimed at making a reasonable estimate for something which is too large to count accurately, the number of leaves on a tree.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem solving task challenges students to apply the concepts of mass, volume, and density in the real-world context to find how many cells are in the human body.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

The goal of this task is to use geometry to study the structure of beehives.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflective of the modernness of the technology involved, this is a challenging geometric modeling task in which students discover from scratch the geometric principles underlying the software used by GPS systems.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This task presents a context that leads students toward discovery of the formula for calculating the volume of a sphere.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This task is inspired by the derivation of the volume formula for the sphere. If a sphere of radius 1 is enclosed in a cylinder of radius 1 and height 2, then the volume not occupied by the sphere is equal to the volume of a "double-naped cone" with vertex at the center of the sphere and bases equal to the bases of the cylinder

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This task examines the ways in which the plane can be covered by regular polygons in a very strict arrangement called a regular tessellation. These tessellations are studied here using algebra, which enters the picture via the formula for the measure of the interior angles of a regular polygon (which should therefore be introduced or reviewed before beginning the task). The goal of the task is to use algebra in order to understand which tessellations of the plane with regular polygons are possible.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This informational text resource is intended to support reading in the content area. A new study indicates that the flying patterns of hunting albatrosses may resemble mathematical designs called fractals. This article describes the basics of fractals and why scientists think the albatross may hunt in such patterns. As it turns out, many animals may use math to find food!

Type: Text Resource