Building for Area
Set-Up
- You will be working in a group of 3 to 4 students
- You will be given unlimited sand blocks
- Each group member will be given a shovel and an axe
- Before starting the activity, please watch the following Khan Academy video on finding perimeter and area basics.
Source: Khan Academy. (2012). Perimeter and Area Basics. Retrieved September 23, 2012 from Khan Academy Online: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/basic-geometry/v/perimeter-and-area-basics
Activity
- For your first group activity you will be required to build a structure with the following criteria:
- Your structure must have an area of 300 blocks
- Before your group starts to build, it would be a good idea to determine what type of shape you are going to make and calculate how many blocks will be needed to make the shape.
- After you have finished your structure, please tell your teacher so you can share it on the projector for your classmates to see.
Building for Perimeter
Set-Up
- You will be working in a group of 3 to 4 students
- You will be given 100 fence pieces as a group
- Each group member will be given a shovel and an axe
- Before starting the activity, please watch the following advanced Khan Academy video on finding perimeter and area.
Source: Khan Academy. (2012). Area and Perimeter. Retrieved September 23, 2012 from Khan Academy Online: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/geometry/basic-geometry/v/area-and-perimeter
Activity
- After finishing your structure from the 'Building for Area' activity, you are now going to build a fence around your structure. You have 100 fence pieces to work with and you must meet the following criteria:
- Your fence must be closed
- You must use all 100 fence pieces
- Upon completion, you should have a fence with a perimeter of 100. Check your work.
- After you have finished your fence, please tell your teacher so you can share it on the projector for your classmates to see.
Classroom Model with Ratios
Set-Up
- You will be working in a group of 3 to 4 students
- You will be given unlimited access to all blocks
- Each group member will be given a shovel, axe, and pickaxe
- Before starting the activity, please watch the following Khan Academy video on ratios.
Source: Khan Academy. (2012). Introduction to Ratios Retrieved September 23, 2012 from Khan Academy Online: http://www.khanacademy.org/math/arithmetic/basic-ratios-proportions/v/introduction-to-ratios--new-hd-version
Activity
- Now that your group has practiced building for area and perimeter, you will now build a model of the classroom using what you know about ratios. For this activity, you will use the ratio of 1 minecraft block = 3 real-life inches.
- Divide up roles for your group members. You will need some people measuring and drawing the classroom, as well as some people to transfer the measurements to the Minecraft world. Since this lesson will take a few days to complete, it would be a good plan to change jobs every day so everyone gets a chance to try something new.
- This activity is all about accuracy and measurement. Determining the correct measurements and applying them to the Minecraft version of the classroom is the main challenge for this activity.
- Because your group has access to all available blocks, please use them to differentiate the different objects in the classroom.
- After you have finished and looked over your Minecraft classroom, please tell your teacher so you can share it on the projector for your classmates to see. Once you have presented, please save your map to the server for potential future use.
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