Estimating the area of an irregular shape

Enviat per György_Éva el dj., 10/09/2020 - 20:36

General Info


Estimating the area of an irregular shape
Abstract

The ” Estimating the area of an irregular shape” CLIL lesson and STEAM activity were held for international groups (Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia) in the framework of the Eramus + Strategic Partnership for Schools project “MathsAlive”. This activity beautifully combines the practical application of mathematics with learning about the natural beauties of our area.


Practice's Language
English
STEAM discipline
Mathematics
Mathematics Area/Topic
Calculus and analysis
Geometry and topology
License
CC BY-NC-SA

Audience and Educational Framework


Audience
Students
Audience competence
Capable
Educational/EQF level
4
Age Range
15-19
Educational/Training framework
Upper high school/lyceum

Educational Details


Educational Subject
Mathematics
Description of the practice

Students have been organized into small groups so that each country was represented in each group. The groups have chosen a name for themselves.

In the introduction we have talked about the concept and measurement of area, and then we have discussed it with guidance that using the area of a triangle and a square, the areas of irregular shapes can be calculated approximately. For curved-bounded shapes, a calculation is usually required to calculate the area.

All things discussed were illustrated with a small video.

Lake St. Anne and its legend has been presented with the purpose of getting to know the area. This example combined mathematics and local knowledge nicely.

Each student has received two scaled-down copy of a map of Lake Saint Anne, on which they made the edits using two methods.

During the first method, students have used the area of a unit square and performed approximate calculations. The results have discussed within the group and then reported and summarized in a table.

With the second method, the area formula of the triangle has been used which gives two sides and the enclosed angle. These results were also summarized and compared with previous results and data known in reality.

Of course, the students used geometric tools, tablets for the approximate calculations.


Duration of practice realisation
3 hores
Difficulty
Medium
Educational Use
assignment, group work

Learning Outcomes

According to the opinions and evaluations of the teachers involved in the activity and the enthusiasm of the students involved, we can conclude that the activity was successful and achieved its goal:

  • to define the area of a surface;
  • to calculate with a good approximation the area of an area divided into unit squares;
  • to use correctly the formula for calculating the area of a triangle;
  • to calculate with a good approximation the area of the same surface divided into triangles;
  • to use geometric tools with skill

The calculated results of the different teams can be tracked in an attached file.


Orientation/Focus
develop new skills
Delivery mode
Face to face learning


Implementation

(where and how the practice was implemented)


Country that was implemented
Romania
Framework/οrganization that was applied to
"Salamon Ernő" Hight School
Audience size
30

Description, evaluation and lessons learned

The students participated the class enthusiastically. They were happy to apply their theoretical knowledge: they performed approximate calculations using both methods. At the end of the class, it was a great satisfaction for them if the results of the calculation and the data given by reality were roughly the same.

Their English knowledge and level of mathematics differed, but this is understandable as students were from 4 different countries with 4 different education systems.


Educational material/resources (file/URL) accompanying the practice


Educational material/resources

License
CC BY-NC-SA
Language

Anglès

Educational Resource File

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