Overview and Background

• Students will first be introduced to the idea of surface area and what the formula for surface area of a rectangular prism. After this, students will be given their 3D shape so that they can visually see a three-dimensional figure that they will be asked to find the surface area for. Through experimentation, students are to measure the critical values that will plug into the formulas. Students will begin by using the surface area formula to arrive at the correct answer. After this, students will be asked to find the area of all 6 faces of the figure and add them together. They will see that the answers here will match, which proves that surface area is the same as saying the sum of the areas of all faces of the figure.

Lesson Plan and Activity

Intro- explain surface area as well as its formula for a rectangular prism, identifying the variables within the formula
Activity- 3D shape distributed, students measure the values of the length, width, and height. They will use the surface area formula and then the area formula to find the area of each face of the figure.
Practice- students will be assigned more problems with surface area with the values given to them, enforcing the idea of plugging in the values into the appropriate places.

Materials Needed

For this lesson, students will need to have rulers so that they can determine the values of the length, width, and height of the prism. They will also need calculators to compute the values of the area of each side as well as the surface area of the entire figure. They should use a pen or pencil to show their procedure in solving on a piece of paper.

Duration of Lesson

40 minutes

Preparation

Students need to know how to plug into their calculator to evaluate for area and/or surface area. Students must also know the formulas associated with the figures at hand, and know what the variables represent in the formulas so that they are able to plug in for the necessary values and arrive at an accurate solution.

Rubric and Assessment

Students are informally assessed as they complete classwork in their groups. As the teacher, I will circulate throughout the room and observe the quality of work being produced by the students, as well as the accuracy of their final solutions according to the prior work done.

Rectangular Prism