Listen to students initial thoughts as they wrestle through what “bigger” means … length? height? wheel-base? volume?
How many times bigger?
Tag Archive for geometry
Wrapping presents on the diagonal
Dr. Sara Santos is a popular mathematician and speaker on mathematics. She has worked out a method for wrapping boxes (rectangular prisms) as efficiently as possible. (Watch the video above) Her method was written up in this article in Mental Floss and…
Lighting the Olympic Torch
The 2016 Summer Olympic games won’t begin until on August 5th of this year but already the Olympic Torch has been lit and is traveling to the game’s site, Brazil, by 12,000 relay participants. Watch the lighting video and wonder…
How Many Donuts is That?
Act One: Take a look at the picture. What is the first question that comes to mind? How many donuts is that? What information would be useful? Act Two: See pictures below. Your students can view all five pictures on…
The Blue Marble
Wednesday, April 22nd, 2015, is Earth Day. Use this activity to demonstrate the various mappings of our 3-d Earth to a 2-d piece of paper. Students compare maps with this famous photo and check to see which characteristics are maintained and…
Geometry of Flooding
In 2010, March was so rainy that flooding was the topic of every newscast and many, many conversations. The picture shows how students went home from school in Wayland Mass. on March 31st – on a Duckboat. This two page investigation asks…