Activity Overview
In this activity, students use the Geoboard to determine the area of triangles having the same base and same height.
Before the Activity
Start the Geoboard App and format it
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 21 - 31 from the attached PDF file for your class
During the Activity
Distribute the page to the class.
Follow the Activity procedures:
Construct two parallel line segments
Between these two parallel lines build three different triangles, each with the same base and same height
Use the calculator to find and record the area of each triangle
Observe they have the same area
Note that moving a vertex of a triangle along a line that is parallel to the triangle's base does not change the triangle's height nor its area
Observe that shifting a triangle's vertex between parallel lines can change any triangle into a right triangle with the same area
Draw a diagonal and redesign the quadrilateral using triangles between parallel lines
Calculate the area of the triangle formed and thus the area of the quadrilateral
Using triangles between parallel lines move one vertex so that a pentagon changes to a quadrilateral with the same area
Solve word problems to measure area of geometric figures using triangles between parallel lines
After the Activity
Students complete the Activity sheet and answer questions.
Review student results:
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary