Finding the Surface Area of Pyramids Using a Formula

Students work on 4 guided practice problems with their partners as a reference if they get stuck.  GP1 provides scaffolding for students along with an image.  GP3 may be a challenge especially if presented in black and white.  Students may have a difficult time seeing that 15 in is the length of the base triangle and 13 inches is its height.  To aid students, I will suggest that they use their hand or a piece of paper to cover everything but the pyramids base – revealing only a triangle.  For the other two problems, I ask students to draw the pyramids.  This is an opportunity for students to enhance their ability to use appropriate tools (MP5) – they draw a model from a verbal description.  It also gives students an opportunity to attend to precision (MP6) by using terminology (regular, slant height, base, etc….) appropriately in their drawings and by labeling the parts of their drawing correctly.   Students will see similar problems in their independent practice and then some slightly trickier applications of surface area.  Problem 8 is an “explain your thinking” type problem that develops students' ability to construct viable arguments. (MP3)

We will briefly review the process for finding the surface area of pyramids.  Then students begin the exit ticket.  If time permits, I will collect the exit tickets and then go over the problems so that students can have immediate feedback.