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K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Cubes everywhere

http://illuminations.nctm.org/LessonDetail.aspx?ID=L616

A lesson plan for grades 6–8 Mathematics

Provider: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics


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In this lesson, students use cubes to develop spatial thinking and review basic geometric principles through real-life applications. Students are given the opportunity to build and take apart structures based on cubes. This lesson plan provides handouts for completing the activity.

Students will:

  • Construct and visualize two- and three-dimensional shapes.
  • Engage in explorations designed to enhance spatial visualization skills.
  • Observe and identify characteristics of two- and three-dimensional objects.
  • Develop geometry vocabulary and converse about geometric ideas.
  • Sort, classify, and make and test conjectures.

NCTM Standard and Expectations

  • Precisely describe, classify, and understand relationships among types of two- and three-dimensional objects using their defining properties.
  • Describe sizes, positions, and orientations of shapes under informal transformations such as flips, turns, slides, and scaling.
  • Use two-dimensional representations of three-dimensional objects to visualize and solve problems such as those involving surface area and volume.
  • Use visual tools such as networks to represent and solve problems.
  • Draw geometric objects with specified properties, such as side lengths or angle measures.
  • Recognize and apply geometric ideas and relationships in areas outside the mathematics classroom, such as art, science, and everyday life.

    • North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

    Mathematics (2004)

    Grade 6

    • Goal 2: Measurement - The learner will select and use appropriate tools to measure two- and three-dimensional figures.
      • Objective 2.01: Estimate and measure length, perimeter, area, angles, weight, and mass of two- and three-dimensional figures, using appropriate tools.

    Grade 7

    • Goal 2: Measurement - The learner will understand and use measurement involving two- and three-dimensional figures.
      • Objective 2.02: Solve problems involving volume and surface area of cylinders, prisms, and composite shapes.

    Grade 8

    • Goal 2: Measurement - The learner will understand and use measurement concepts.
      • Objective 2.01: Determine the effect on perimeter, area or volume when one or more dimensions of two- and three-dimensional figures are changed.