Saturday, 08 August 2009

Perimeter of curved shapes

This week, Year 9 were looking at finding the perimeter of shapes that include curves (parts of a circle).

Along the way, I remembered I had this photo of a playground in my local area.


Click image for a larger version

Here it is in Google Maps (sorry, no link to the actual site):

From my notes when I took the photo, the radius of the circle is 11.75m.

How could you use this?

  • I used it as a review the day after we had worked out how to calculate the perimeter of part of a circle. The scenario set was “how does the builder plan for the number of bricks required?”
  • If I had remembered I had the image before we did the lesson, I would have used it as an introduction – “how are you going to solve this problem?”

Having only got a projector in my classroom this year, this is the sort of stuff I’ve been wanting to do since I started teaching.

Feel free to take this image and use in your own classroom. Obviously for a more senior/advanced class you could calculate other things like the length of an arc formed by the two seats.

Download: curved_wall.zip (ZIP 736 KB)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (?).
Posted in • Lesson IdeaCirclesMediaPhotoTechnologyProjector ResourceWhat can you do with this?
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Comments

Gravatar for Kate NowakKate Nowak on  10 August 09  at  12:33 PM #

Great use of photo + google maps! It can be hard to find circle applications. Thanks for sharing. I think throwing it on the screen as an unfamiliar problem is a good instinct.

Gravatar for Sara PallSara Pall on  10 August 09  at  10:17 PM #

Yeah man u have used this photo very well and also i want to say that u r intelligent you know about the latest applications and you know how to use them actually i am a student and i am preparing for my a+ exams and i use Google earth and circle application for many purposes man……..nice website man and the information here is great…Keep up the good work!!!

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