Students sometimes need a break from paper and pencil math problems in order to keep them interested and stimulated in math. For some kids certain math concepts are too abstract and need to be made more hands-on.
Many students have a difficult time understanding the concepts of area and volume.
Textbooks have pictures which don't always allow the students to grasp the ideas. This activity takes away the abstract idea and replaces it with a concrete model. Following an introduction to area and volume students will work in groups to build models of square centimeters, square inches, square feet, square meters, and then cubic centimeters, cubic inches, cubic feet, and cubic meters. This becomes a good cooperative team effort at problem solving. Students are provided with materials, but no initial instruction is given on how to build their models.