Crystals - Students studying polyhedra enjoy seeing the structures as they occur in the real world. Students can access links to photographs of beautiful crystals. Paper models of crystals can be made by printing out nets of crystals and constructing the models.
Polyhedra in the Classroom This unit by Suzanne Alejandre introduces the concepts of surface area and volume while focusing on the importance of measurement. Students calculate the surface area of a rectangular prism; name the characteristics (number of edges, faces, vertices, and the shape of the face) of 6 specific polyhedra (cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, dodecahedron, icosahedron, and cuboctahedron); demonstrate their understanding of the characteristics of polyhedra; and explore polyhedra in the real world through crystalline structures and 'buckyballs'. All objectives are coordinated with the NCTM Standards.
Nancy Powell is a Web Mentor for the Teachers Network and the Lead Teacher of the Mathematics Department at Bloomington High School
in Bloomington, IL
For more information or comments about these math pages, contact Nancy
Powell at npowell@bhs-ms.org
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