Mathematical goals

This lesson unit is intended to help students to:

• Reason precisely and defend their conclusions.
• Use mathematics to model a scenario concerning volume.

Introduction

The lesson unit is structured in the following way:

• Before the lesson, students attempt the Packing It In task individually. You review their responses and formulate questions that will help them improve their work.
• At the start of the lesson, students read your comments and consider ways to improve their work.
• In pairs or threes, students work together to develop a better solution, producing a poster to show their conclusions and their reasoning.
• Then, in the same small groups, students look at some sample student work showing different approaches to the problem. They evaluate the strategies used and seek to improve the arguments given.
• In a whole-class discussion, students compare different solution methods.
• Finally, students reflect individually on their learning.

This lesson corresponds to the following  standard(s):

Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving area, volume, and surface area of two- and three-dimensional objects composed of triangles, quadrilaterals, polygons, cubes, and right prisms. (The examinee will demonstrate an understanding by applying geometric methods in modeling situations.).