standard_description: Write, read, and evaluate expressions in which letters stand for numbers.
problem_activity: Activity
This activity encourages students to apply strategies for finding the area of polygons to finding the
surface area
of rectangular prisms. Students use 12 cubes to build a prism, think about its surface area, and use isometric dot paper to draw their prism.
As students build their prisms, notice those with different designs and those with the same design but different approaches to finding surface area (e.g. by counting individual square, by multiplying the edge lengths of rectangular faces, etc.).
Digital
Launch
Read the first two lines of the task statement together. Remind students that we refer to the flat surfaces of a three-dimensional figure as
faces
.
Give students a minute to think about how we know the surface area of the shown prism is 32 square units. Ask 1–2 students to explain their reasoning to the class. Use students’ explanations to highlight the meaning of surface area, i.e., that the area of all the faces need to be accounted for, including those we cannot see when looking at a two-dimensional drawing.
Tell students they will use 12 cubes to build a different prism, draw it, and find its surface area. Consider doing a quick demonstration on how to draw a simple prism on isometric dot paper. (Start with one cube and then add a cube in each dimension.) Tell students that in this activity, we call each face of a single cube, "1 square unit."
Give each student 12 cubes to build a prism and 6–8 minutes of quiet work time. If students are using snap cubes, say that we will pretend all of the faces are completely smooth, so they do not need to worry about the “innies and outies” of the snap cubes.
As students work, consider arranging two students with contrasting designs or strategies as partners. Ask partners to share their answers, explanations, and drawings. Stress that each partner should focus their explanation on how they went about finding surface area. The listener should think about whether the explanation makes sense or if anything is amiss in the reasoning.
For students in digital classrooms, an applet can be used to build and draw prisms. Physical cubes are still recommended and preferred for the building of the figures, however.
Action and Expression: Develop Expression and Communication.
Support multiple forms of communication. Some students may benefit from an explicit demonstration and additional practice to learn how to draw cubes using isometric dot paper. Invite students who are unable to represent their figures using isometric dot paper to explain their reasoning orally, using virtual or concrete manipulatives.
Supports accessibility for: Visual-spatial processing; Conceptual processing; Fine-motor skills
Student Facing
Here is a rectangular prism built from 12 cubes:
[IMG]
It has six
faces
, but you can only see three of them in the sketch. It has a
surface area
of 32 square units.
The applet has 12 blocks, too. They are all in the same spot on the screen, like a hidden stack of blocks. You will always know where the stack is because it sits on a gray square. To use a block, drag the red point to move it. Click on the red points to change from left/right movement to up/down movement.
[IMG]
Use all 12 cubes to build a different rectangular prism (with different edge lengths than shown in the prism here). You can turn the view to see all of the faces of your figure.
How many faces does your figure have?
What is the surface area of your figure in square units?
Student Response
Teachers with a valid work email address can
click here to register or sign in
for free access to Student Response.
Print
Launch
Read the first two lines of the task statement together. Remind students that we refer to the flat surfaces of a three-dimensional figure as
faces
.
Give students a minute to think about how we know the surface area of the shown prism is 32 square units. Ask 1–2 students to explain their reasoning to the class. Use students’ explanations to highlight the meaning of surface area, i.e., that the area of all the faces need to be accounted for, including those we cannot see when looking at a two-dimensional drawing.
Tell students they will use 12 cubes to build a different prism, draw it, and find its surface area. Consider doing a quick demonstration on how to draw a simple prism on isometric dot paper. (Start with one cube and then add a cube in each dimension.) Tell students that in this activity, we call each face of a single cube, "1 square unit."
Give each student 12 cubes to build a prism and 6–8 minutes of quiet work time. If students are using snap cubes, say that we will pretend all of the faces are completely smooth, so they do not need to worry about the “innies and outies” of the snap cubes.
As students work, consider arranging two students with contrasting designs or strategies as partners. Ask partners to share their answers, explanations, and drawings. Stress that each partner should focus their explanation on how they went about finding surface area. The listener should think about whether the explanation makes sense or if anything is amiss in the reasoning.
For students in digital classrooms, an applet can be used to build and draw prisms. Physical cubes are still recommended and preferred for the building of the figures, however.
Action and Expression: Develop Expression and Communication.
Support multiple forms of communication. Some students may benefit from an explicit demonstration and additional practice to learn how to draw cubes using isometric dot paper. Invite students who are unable to represent their figures using isometric dot paper to explain their reasoning orally, using virtual or concrete manipulatives.
Supports accessibility for: Visual-spatial processing; Conceptual processing; Fine-motor skills
Student Facing
Here is a sketch of a rectangular prism built from 12 cubes:
[IMG]
It has six
faces
, but you can only see three of them in the sketch. It has a
surface area
of 32 square units.
Your teacher will give you 12 snap cubes. Use all of your snap cubes to build a different rectangular prism (with different edge lengths than the prism shown here).
How many faces does your figure have?
What is the surface area of your figure in square units?
Draw your figure on isometric dot paper. Color each face a different color.
[IMG]
Student Response
Teachers with a valid work email address can
click here to register or sign in
for free access to Student Response.
Anticipated Misconceptions
Students may count the faces of the individual snap cubes rather than faces of the completed prism. Help them understand that the faces are the visible ones on the outside of the figure.
Activity Synthesis
After partner discussions, select a student to highlight for the class the strategy (or strategies) for finding surface area methodically. Point out that in this activity each face of their prism is a rectangle, and that we can find the area of each rectangle by multiplying its side lengths and then add the areas of all the faces.
Explain that later, when we encounter non-rectangular prisms, we can likewise reason about the area of each face the way we reasoned about the area of a polygon.
Speaking: MLR8 Discussion Supports.
Use this routine to support whole-class discussion. Call on students to use mathematical language (e.g., cubes, faces, surface area, square units, etc.), to restate and/or revoice the strategy (or strategies) presented. Consider providing students time to restate what they hear to a partner, before selecting one or two students to share with the class. This will provide more students with an opportunity to produce language that describes strategies for finding surface area.
Design Principle(s): Support sense-making; Maximize meta-awareness


aligns: no