Week 11 Reflection

This weeks mathematics blog focuses on the Measurement strand and will be based on the three tremendous presentations from this week. These presentations used hands on methods of teaching to get students and engaged and excited about what they are learning.

The first presenter, myself, taught a lesson that targets grade 8 and focuses on the measurement of the volume of a cylinder. I started by having the groups brainstorm and familiarize themselves with the area formulas for triangles, rectangles and circles. Once each group had done this, i explained to them that a 2D shape becomes a 3D shape when you add a height component to it. In terms of formulas, simply multiply the area formula by h to find its volume formula.
                                                                                                                                                         

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The students then took a package of Oreos and calculated the volume of the numbers of Oreos that each question asked. By using Oreos, students could identify that there are different ways to determine the volume of several objects of the same size. 

The next presenter used small square manipulatives to help each group understand the relationship between side length and area. We were told that we could only use 36 cubes and must make as many rectangles as we could with those 36 squares. 

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Knowing that the cubes had to equal 36, our group began to think of all the multiples of 36. After making rectangles of 1x36, 2x18, 3x12, 4x9, 6x6, 9x4, 12x3, 18x2 and 36x1, we recorded the area of each and found that it was the same each time. 

The last presentation used objects to help students approximate length. By using objects to approximate height, it helped us get an idea of using appropriate units when measuring things. 

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As one would guess, it is much easier to determine how many popsicle sticks tall a classmate is rather than how many paper clips. The same is true when measuring in actual units. I can look at someone and approximate that they are 1.5 meters tall. I would be much more difficult however to guess how many centimetres or millimetres tall the person is. This lesson did a great job of explaining and showing this. I will definitely use a variation of these lessons in my own class one day since they are very engaging and help students visualize difficult measurement concepts.