Education Technology


Area Formulas

Activity Overview

Explore the relationships among the area formulas for parallelogram and rectangles.

Objectives

  • Students will be able to describe how the area of a parallelogram relates to the area of a rectangle with the same base and height.
  • Students will be able to describe how the area of a triangle relates to the area of a parallelogram with the same base and height.
  • Students will be able to describe how the area of a trapezoid relates to the area of a parallelogram with the same height and with a base equal to the sum of the bases of the trapezoid.
  • Students will be able to use relationships to compute the areas of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids given their dimensions.

Vocabulary

  • rectangle
  • parallelogram
  • triangle
  • trapezoid

About the Lesson

Students will:

  • Observe the relationships between figures and compare the areas of the figures.
  • Formulate expressions to compute the area of parallelograms, triangles, and trapezoids.