Standard 2: Model and solve problems involving two-dimensional figures and three-dimensional figures.

Students are asked to use a net to find the surface area of a rectangular prism.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to determine the number of unit prisms needed to fill a larger prism with fractional dimensions.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to explain the relationship between two approaches to finding the volume of a right rectangular prism.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to determine the volume of a right rectangular prism given fractional edge lengths.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to determine the volume of a right rectangular prism given fractional edge lengths.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to draw a net of a three-dimensional figure.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to solve a problem involving finding the area of a composite plane figure.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the area of a composite plane figure.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to calculate the volume and surface area of a cube.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the surface area of a composite figure.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the area of a trapezoid and a parallelogram by composing or decomposing into triangles and rectangles.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the area of a kite by composing it into rectangles or decomposing it into triangles.

Type: Formative Assessment

Students are asked to find the area of two different triangles.

Type: Formative Assessment

In this lesson, you will find clip art and various illustrations of polygons, circles, ellipses, star polygons, and inscribed shapes.

Type: Image/Photograph

In this first of three lessons on the Pythagorean Theorem students work to prove the Pythagorean theorem and verify that the theorem works.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be able to match a 3-D shape with its net, then using the net, they will find the surface area of the shape. They will then be able to apply this knowledge to solve real world application problems, finishing up with a design contest.

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will investigate how radiation from the sun allows us to bake cookie dough. The students will also determine if the volume of the box determines the time it will take for the cookie dough to bake. The students will also create a graph of the data collected while the cookie dough is baking in the solar oven.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson introduces the idea of finding volume. Volume in sixth grade math is very "rectangular" (cubes, rectangular prisms) and this lesson brings to light that volume is simply a measure of available space, but can take on many shapes or forms (cylinders for example - graduated cylinders and beakers) in science. Students will be left to design their own data collection and organizing the data that they collect. They will apply the skill of finding volume to using fractional parts of a number (decimals) and finding the product using the volume formula.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore and apply the use of nets to find the surface area of pyramids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is the first of two in a unit on surface area. This lesson provides a foundation for understanding the concept of surface area by introducing nets of right rectangular prisms. 

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is primarily formative in nature and is designed to introduce students to the area of a triangle by having them derive the formula themselves using the relationship between rectangles and triangles. During the lesson the teacher will be facilitating their students as they work with their teams and shoulder partners to solve problems.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students create surface area nets with graph paper and work with manipulative cubes to decide if there is a relationship between surface area and volume in rectangular prisms.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students will work in groups to evaluate the measurements of shapes that form three-dimensional composite shapes to compute the surface area.

Type: Lesson Plan

This two-day lesson uses a hands-on problem-solving approach to find the volume of a right rectangular prism with positive rational number edge lengths. Students first design boxes and fill with Rubik's Cubes. They create a formula from the patterns they find. Using cubes with fractional edges requires students to apply fractional units to their formulas. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be able to match a 3-D shape with its net, then using the net, they will find the surface area of the shape. They will then be able to apply this knowledge to solve real world application problems, finishing up with a design contest.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will find the volumes of objects. After decomposing a model of a house into basic objects students will determine the cost of running the air conditioning.

Type: Lesson Plan

This MEA is a great way to implement Florida State Standards for math and language arts. It also supports cooperative learning groups and encourages student engagement. Students will explore different types of materials to determine which absorbs the least amount of heat. Students will also calculate the surface area to determine the cost for constructing the buildings using the materials.

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. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

This activity has students predict the number of one hundred dollar bills that can fit inside the classroom. The students use volume measurements to explain their estimation.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students work cooperatively to find the volume of a right rectangular prisms, using whole and fraction units of measurement, using the volume formula, and using manipulatives to count the number of units necessary to fill the prisms, and compare it with the formula results. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will find the surface area of three-dimensional figures. Students will use nets to calculate the surface area of right rectangular prisms and right rectangular pyramids.

Type: Lesson Plan

This is a guided inquiry lesson to help students gain greater understanding of the relationship between 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional shapes. Students create right rectangular prisms and problem-solve how to find the flat 2-dimensional surface area. Students are asked to figure out how many party favors (prisms) can be painted with a quart of glow-in-the-dark paint.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this introductory lesson to surface area, students will make connections between area of two-dimensional figures and calculating the surface area of rectangular prisms using nets, within the context of wrapping birthday presents! Math is Fun :)

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will extend their knowledge of volume from using whole numbers to using fractional units. Students will work with adding, multiplying, and dividing fractions to find the volume of right rectangular prisms, as well as, determining the number of fractional unit cubes in a rectangular prism.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson uses a discovery approach to exploring the meaning of volume. The students will work with cubes as they construct and analyze the relationship between the length, width, and height to the total amount of cubes. Students will be able to apply this concept to real world applications of other right rectangular prisms and compare them to determine which will hold the most volume. 

Type: Lesson Plan

Area of a Right Triangle

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson is 2 of 2 and is primarily formative in nature, but includes a summative assessment for students to take during the following class period. 

During the lesson, students will be reviewing for their assessment on the surface area formula for a right rectangular prism. 

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity, MEA, students are asked to develop a procedure to fit the most amount of rectangular prism plant packages on one sheet of cardboard, using nets and surface area.

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

In this first of three lessons on the Pythagorean Theorem students work to prove the Pythagorean theorem and verify that the theorem works.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this activity, students use a house blueprint to find the area of carpeted floor by decomposing composite shapes into rectangles and triangles. As students critique each other's reasoning, they refine their thinking of surface area. 

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson allows students to derive the formulas for 3D figures by having them build models for nets.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students hear a story about a middle-school student who wants to redecorate his bedroom. They measure the classroom wall dimensions, draw a scale model, and incorporate measurements for windows and doors to determine the area that could be covered by wallpaper. Students then hear more about the student's redecorating adventure and learn about expenses, budget constraints, and tradeoffs.

Type: Lesson Plan

Follow George as he explores the formula for the area of a triangle and uses it to find the area of various triangles in this interactive student tutorial. 

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Help Cindy find the missing dimension of a rectangular prism in her delivery services job with this interactive tutorial.

This is part 3 in a three-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

• Volume Part 1
• Volume Part 2

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Follow Cindy as she explores fractional unit cubes and finds the volume of rectangular prisms that have rational number dimensions in this interactive tutorial.

This is part 2 in a three-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

• Volume Part 1
• Volume Part 3

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Follow Cindy as she learns about the volume formulas to create boxes in this interactive tutorial.

This is part 1 in a three-part series. Click below to open the other tutorials in the series.

• Volume Part 2
• Volume Part 3

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Type: Original Student Tutorial

What do you do if you don't have room for all your gear on a solo ocean trek? You're gonna need a bigger boat...or pack smarter with math.

Related Resources:
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: GPS Data Set[.XLSX]
KROS Pacific Ocean Kayak Journey: Path Visualization for Google Earth[.KML]

Download the CPALMS Perspectives video student note taking guide.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

If you want to take things to space, you have to have a place to put them. Just make sure they fit before you send them up.

Type: Perspectives Video: Professional/Enthusiast

Unlock an effective teaching strategy for identifying the base and height of figures in this Teacher Perspectives video for educators.

Type: Perspectives Video: Teaching Idea

The purpose of this task is two-fold. One is to provide students with a multi-step problem involving volume. The other is to give them a chance to discuss the difference between exact calculations and their meaning in a context. It is important to note that students could argue that whether the new pan is appropriate depends in part on how accurate Leo's estimate for the needed height is.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Students are asked to determine and illustrate all possible descriptions for the base and height of a given triangle.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Students are asked to demonstrate two different strategies for finding the area of polygons shown on grids.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Students are asked to use the given information to determine the cost of painting a barn.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This task is a good precursor to students developing the formula for the area of a triangle. The fact that each triangle has the same area can be used to highlight the meaning of the components of the area formula, as well as the meaning of the altitude of a triangle (an issue since the given triangles are not acute.) Students may try to determine the area of each triangle by counting the square units or using the "surround and subtract" method. Students may think that triangle ABC has the largest area because the others appear thinner.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This is the second version of a task asking students to find the areas of triangles that have the same base and height. This presentation is more abstract as students are not using physical models. They still determine the area of each triangle by counting the square units or using the "surround and subtract" method, but it is a good lead-up for students to think about the formula for the area of a triangle and notice that the length of bases and altitudes are the same. Students who do not analyze the area may think that triangle ABC has the largest area because the others appear thinner.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This purpose of this task is to help students understand what happens when you scale the dimensions of a right rectangular solid. This task provides an opportunity to compare the relative volumes of boxes in order to calculate the mass of clay required to fill them. These relative volumes can be calculated geometrically, filling the larger box with smaller boxes, or arithmetically using the given dimensions.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This problem provides an interesting geometric context to work on the notion of percent. Two different methods for analyzing the geometry are provided: the first places the two squares next to one another and then moves one so that they overlap. The second solution sets up an equation to find the overlap in terms of given information which reflects the mathematical ideas reason about and solve one-variable equations and inequalities.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

In this activity, students adjust the dimensions of either a rectangular or triangular prism and the surface area and volume are calculated for those dimensions. Students can also switch into compute mode where they are given a prism with certain dimensions and they must compute the surface area and volume. The application keeps score so students can track their progress. This application allows students to explore the surface area and volume of rectangular and triangular prisms and how changing dimensions affect these measurements. This activity also includes supplemental materials, including background information about the topics covered, a description of how to use the application, and exploration questions for use with the java applet.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This lesson is designed to introduce students to the concept of volume and how to find the volume of rectangular prisms. This lesson provides links to discussions and activities related to volume as well as suggested ways to integrate them into the lesson. Finally, the lesson provides links to follow-up lessons designed for use in succession with the current one.

Type: Teaching Idea

This Khan Academy tutorial video illustrates how to find the volume of an irregular solid figure by dividing the figure into two rectangular prisms and finding the volume of each.  Although the tutorial works from a drawing, individual volume cubes are not drawn so students must work from the formula. 

Type: Tutorial

This Khan Academy tutorial video illustrates finding the volume of an irregular figure made up of unit cubes by separating the figure into two rectangular prisms and finding the volume of each part.

Type: Tutorial

Find the volume of an object, given dimensions of a rectangular prism filled with water, and the incremental volume after the object is dropped into the water.

Type: Tutorial

This video involves packing a larger rectangular prism with smaller ones which is solved in two different ways.

Type: Tutorial

This tutorial demonstrates how the area of an irregular geometric shape may be determined by decomposition to smaller familiar shapes.

Type: Tutorial

In this video, discover another way of finding the volume of a rectangular prism involves dividing it into fractional cubes, finding the volume of one, and then multiplying that area by the number of cubes that fit into the rectangular prism.

Type: Tutorial

This video shows how to solve a word problem involving rectangular prisms.

Type: Tutorial

This video demonstrates how to construct nets for 3-D shapes.

Type: Tutorial

This video demonstrates using a net to find surface area.

Type: Tutorial

We will be able to find the area of a triangle in a coordinate grid. The formula for the area of a triangle is given in this tutorial.  

Type: Tutorial

In this interactive, self-guided unit on 3-dimensional shape, students (and teachers) explore 3-dimensional shapes, determine surface area and volume, derive Euler's formula, and investigate Platonic solids. Interactive quizzes and animations are included throughout, including a 15 question quiz for student completion.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence