Perimeter, Area and Volume - Shapes- Same Area - Presentation

In an educational presentation for Year 6 students, the concept of area is explored through various activities and discussions. The lesson encourages students to understand what area means and how it is measured, using their maths books as a practical example. Students are asked to consider the units used to measure area, such as square centimetres (cm²), and to engage in discussions around this concept. The lesson is structured around a series of interactive activities, beginning with sorting different shapes into a Carroll diagram based on whether they are quadrilaterals or not and their respective areas. This visual sorting exercise helps students to categorise shapes and understand that different shapes can have the same area.

Further activities in the presentation involve drawing rectangles with specific areas using integer side lengths and noticing patterns in their dimensions. These exercises are designed to reinforce students' understanding of area and to highlight the importance of knowing times tables when calculating areas. Students are also presented with reasoning challenges, such as determining whether two different shapes can have the same area or exploring the possible dimensions of a rectilinear shape given certain parameters like perimeter and minimum length. The lesson concludes with independent work, where students have the opportunity to draw rectangles with a given area and delve into reasoning tasks that require careful consideration of clues to determine possible shapes. Throughout the lesson, students are prompted to think about the practical applications of area and how factors can be used to find different rectangle dimensions for a specific area.