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Ten 50-minute class periods shared by two team teachers.
This unit is a culminating activity to a geometry unit involving triangles
involving real world problem solving. In the final project students
are asked to find or design their own garden plan. A problem to create
a landscape design provides lots of opportunity to think creatively
about determining the square feet of garden space and hardscape so
that the proper number of plants and the correct number of bricks
can be ordered. Students will be further excited by the project if
the class is able to actually implement one or more of the designs
in the school or community environment. Local PTSA volunteers, an
environmental science teacher, or Master Gardener could assist in
choosing plants appropriate for the area, considering the amount
of sun, condition of the soil, and drainage properties, and (of course)
based on the measurements given to them by the math class. Presenting
their plans to the principal and to the expert class partners helps
to make them more responsible for their work because others (outside
of our class) will be involved and are depending on them to do a
good job. The possibility that their plan may be accepted and implemented
makes it more of a competition and a real life challenge.
It has been designed as a team project between the computer literacy
teacher(or other computer related elective) and the geometry teacher.
Specific tasks need to divided between the two to the satisfaction
of the two teachers involved.
Geometry,
Technology/Computer Literacy
The learner will:
• Solve a real life problem: Design a garden environment to suit the definition
of “formal garden” using geometric figures.
• Measure accurately and draw the design to scale.
• Calculate area and perimeter of a variety of geometric figures.
• Create a presentation to “sell” their idea to the school administration
and/or community volunteers.
Louisiana Mathematics
Content Standards
http://www.louisianaschools.net/conn/standards1.php
STANDARD - Measurement: In problem-solving investigations, students
demonstrate an understanding of the concepts, processes, and
real-life applications of measurement.
M-1-H (9-12): selecting and using appropriate units, techniques,
and tools to measure quantities in order to achieve specified
degrees of precision, accuracy, and error (or tolerance) of measurements;
M-3-H (9-12): estimating, computing, and applying physical measurement
using suitable units (e.g., calculate perimeter and area of plane
figures, surface area and volume of solids presented in real-world
situations);
STANDARD - Geometry: In problem-solving
investigations, students demonstrate an understanding of geometric
concepts and applications involving one-, two-, and three-dimensional
geometry, and justify their findings.
G-1-H (9-12): identifying, describing, comparing, constructing,
and classifying geometric figures in two and three dimensions
using technology where appropriate to explore and make conjectures
about geometric concepts and figures;
G-4-H (9-12): using inductive reasoning to predict, discover,
and apply geometric properties and relationships (e.g., paper
constructions, sum of the angles in a polygon);
G-4-M (5-8): constructing two- and three-dimensional models;
G-5-M (5-8): making and testing conjectures about geometric shapes
and their properties;
G-7-M (5-8): demonstrating the connection of geometry to the
other strands and to real-life situations (e.g., applications
of the Pythagorean Theorem).
• Student Sheet 1: Hot List of Formal Gardens
• Student Sheet 2: Landscape Design Project Group Instructions
• Student Sheet 3: Landscape Project Rubric
• Sample Microsoft® Power Point® (ppt)
(either printed out or loaded on the school server for access by the students.)
PDF
