GOALS

Be exposed to many different ways of teaching area to students

Opportunity to experience these ways by creating lessons
Work with other teachers to share ideas about area and how to present it to students
PREPARATION and MATERIALS

Copies of the articles the groups will read

o Chapter 4: The Concept of Area. MTHT 470 Teaching Mathematics with Science, pgs. 1-8
o Derivations of Area and Measurement Concepts of the Circle: A Conceptual-Based Learning
o

Approach through Dissection Motion Operations. NCTM

How Does Your Mathematical Garden Grow? Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School,
vol. 13, no. 2, September 2007 (NCTM)

TIME

TASK

8:30-8:45

Welcome and Purpose

8:45-10:00

Introductions
Review goals and purpose of the professional development
Area Models

Read articles
o Participants will be grouped equally, ideally 3 per group
o Each group will be given one of 3 short articles to read (its okay for more
o

10:00-10:15
10:15-11:30

than one group to have the same article)

Each group will be tasked with presenting the information

BREAK
1. Presentations of Articles
2. Discussion of area and how the ideas in the articles can be helpful in the

11:30-12:30
12:30-1:00

classroom.
LUNCH
Use and explore the website www.floorplanner.com

Create rooms for your house

Find the area for each room in your house

As you explore, think about these questions:

1:00-2:00

How could you relate this activity to your teaching of area?

How might you use this idea in your classroom?
Group work

Work in small groups to create a lesson (or part of a lesson) using the above
website and questions that would be appropriate for the grade level you are

2:00-2:30

teaching
Give a BRIEF presentation of ideas so all walk away with new ideas
Group Presentations of the lesson
Evaluations