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Equal areas inquiry

A series of lessons designed to build and extend student knowledge of calculating and comparing the area, perimeter and height of shapes. Students initially work collaboratively to share their understandings and pose questions. Guidance is given on how to interpret student responses in order to diagnose misconceptions, and follow-up lessons address these. Students then proceed to work through examples. Annotated student examples are provided, along with question prompts to guide reflection on learning. A PowerPoint presentation and templates for teachers to use throughout the inquiry are provided.

Additional details
Year level(s)	Year 8
Audience	Teacher
Purpose	Assessment task, Assessment advice, Evidence-based approaches, Extension, Planning support, Student task, Teaching resource, Teaching strategies
Format	Downloadable resources
Teaching strategies and pedagogical approaches	Collaborative learning, Differentiated teaching, Explicit teaching, Feedback, Growth mindset, Mathematics investigation, Metacognitive strategies, Questioning, Structuring lessons, Worked examples
Keywords	area, perimeter, height, radius, equal, A=pi
Curriculum alignment
Curriculum connections	Numeracy, Critical and creative thinking
Strand and focus	Measurement, Apply understanding, Build understanding
Topics	Area, volume and surface area, Pythagoras and trigonometry, Shapes and objects
AC: Mathematics (V9.0) content descriptions	AC9M8M01 Solve problems involving the area and perimeter of irregular and composite shapes using appropriate units
Numeracy progression	Understanding units of measurement (P9)
Copyright details
Organisation	Inquiry Maths
Copyright	© Andrew Blair 2012-21. Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.