Since I could not find an activity that matched my standards area of
measurement, I chose to review the Area Tool at www.illuminations.nctm.org. The
area tool is an exploratory tool that can be used to track how the area changes
given different side lengths in triangles, parallelograms, and trapezoids. It
could also be used in a lesson on proportions and similar triangles and shapes.
Unfortunately, because the angles and lengths are on a slider scale and there
is no way of getting exact measurements, it would be very difficult to use this
tool in a lesson on the Pythagorean Theorem or trigonometry.
While it does have limitations, the area tool does accomplish its main
objective of determining how the base length and height of a figure affects its
area very efficiently. Using this tool is much more efficient than drawing the
figures out on graph paper. Students can instantly make connections between the
areas instead of painstakingly graphing the figures out and running the risk of
losing the information through the tediousness of the activity.
This same lesson could be taught using graph paper, plastic shapes, or
other manipulatives. While these other methods would work, they do not provide
the same efficiency that the area tool can. If I were designing this tool, I
would include the option to input exact measurements and angles, and output
angle measurements.
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