The student uses procedures to determine measures of solids. Then, students design packages to get the greatest volume with a given surface area. Finally, students discover that a cube is the rectangular prism that has the least surface area for a given volume. Clarifying Activity Students build a model of a room or building. Using the dimensions of the model, and the scale of the model, students determine how many square feet, square yards, or square meters of carpet would be needed to carpet the floor of the actual room or building.
Students then generalize the procedure for finding the surface area of any size hollow cylinder.
The student uses indirect measurement to solve problems. Given a diagram showing the street plan of a city on a grid, students use the Pythagorean Theorem to compare the distance between two locations traveled by a taxi and a helicopter. The student uses indirect measurement to solve problems. Clarifying Activity Students determine the height of things in or near the schoolyard by setting up a proportional relationship between shadows and heights at a given time of day. Clarifying Activity To determine unkown heights in the classrom, students work with a partner to place a mirror on the floor at the place where the unknown height is fully visible.