Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Surface Area and Volume of Three-Dimensional Shapes

Grade Level: 10th, Geometry with completion of Algebra 1

State Objectives:
11.3.1 Students will identify and describe geometric characteristics and create two- and threedimensional shapes
11.3.1.h Sketch, draw, and construct appropriate representations of geometric objects using a variety of
tools and methods which may include ruler/straight edge, protractor, compass, reflective devices, paper
folding, or dynamic geometric software
11.3.3 Measurement: Students will perform and compare measurements and apply formulas.
11.3.3.a Convert between various units of length, area, and volume (e.g., such as square feet to square
yards).
11.3.3.e Determine surface area and volume of spheres, cones, pyramids, and prisms using formulas and
appropriate units.
District Objectives:
-Apply geometric relationships to explain the physical world by exploring two- and three-dimensional
space.
-Calculate volume and surface area of three-dimensional figures.
-Classify two- and three-dimensional shapes, figures, and models.
-Determine how changing dimensions affects perimeter, area, and volume.
-Identify three-dimensional shapes using two dimensional net layouts.
Multiple Intelligences Chart (List of activities and assessments to be completed throughout the unit)

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Unit Overview: This unit is designed so that students are able to work within their own strong
intelligence(s) and can still learn the necessary skills needed to meet the state and district standards.
Students should start at the lowest level of the taxonomy, regardless of introductory knowledge they
may already possess. Ideally, students can move throughout the activities at their own pace, but the
teacher can set deadlines if need be.
Finally, the location of the assessments is designed to test the big ideas of the unit. In some
intelligences this happens early in the taxonomy, and other points the assessment is in the deeper
understanding level. The hope is that each student gets through the intelligence with roughly the same
amount and depth of knowledge as someone who takes a different path. That way, when we take our
District Common Assessment at the end of the unit.
Linguistic Intelligence: These activities focus on the verbal parts of the lesson. Students will use base
words and connections to other words and languages to help them create their own level of
understanding. This will help the students connect to the words they will see on the district assessment
or other standardized tests. The hardest part with this intelligence will be connecting the words to the
visual representations.
Knowledge: Students will be asked to memorize the different parts of three-dimensional
shapes. The student will be allowed to memorize in whatever way they choose, including with
flashcards, rewrite, highlighting, or discussing word connections with a peer. At the end of the activity,
students should be able to recall and connect words to definitions and vice versa. Words and definitions
that should be included are:
Three-Dimensional: Objects with length, width, and height
Net: An unfolded 3D shape that is now in 2D to view the components
Base: The (2D) that is directly perpendicular to the height
Face: Any flat side of a 3D Shape
Edge: A line where there two faces meet
Vertex: Where more than two edges meet
Prism: A shape with two identical bases
Cylinder: A shape with two identical circles as bases
Pyramid: A shape with one base
Cone: A shape with one circular base
Surface area: The area of all the faces added up
Volume: The amount of stuff that is inside the shape
Slant height: Distance from the vertex to the edge of the base in a cone or pyramid
Comprehension: Students will hold a small-group discussion (3-4 people per group) where
they talk about words that they are struggling with and ideas that they do not understand. Group
members can help when they can, and should include the teacher when everyone feels lost about a
concept. Students should use the words of the unit in their questioning and explanations. The teacher
should have guiding questions to help the students reach an end-goal of deeper understanding. Possible
questions to include:
How would you explain the difference between surface area and volume?
What are the uses of a net?
What is going to be bigger, the surface area or volume? Can they ever switch or be the same?
Describe the difference between a cone and cylinder (Can be done with all the shapes)
How do you know if something is a face or a base?

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Application: This is the first assessment piece for this intelligence. Here, students will be
asked to describe how they would find surface area and volume of a given shape. Note that this does
not necessarily mean that students will be given the formulas to use, but rather students should use
their knowledge of what surface area and volume is and to think critically about what they know. They
are supposed to try and explain how they might be able to find surface area and volume.
To assess this, the teacher will listen to the explanation and see if what they are saying makes
sense. This is not a formal summative assessment, but rather a check to see if the student is ready to
move on. Once the student feels comfortable discussing their ideas with the teacher and is confident in
what they are doing, they can begin using surface area and volume in a more real-world setting. I plan to
use a 1-4 scale:
1-Student does not know vocabulary terms correctly or has little concept of SA or V
2-Student needed lots of help to explain and calculate the SA or V of a shape.
3-There were minor mistakes in calculation or explanation, but the student is ready for more
4-Student is confident and accurate in description and calculation
Analysis: For the linguistic learner, their activity is to have cross-intelligence discussions with
their peers so that they can adopt and refine their own concept of surface area and volume. This
discussions are to be held at the analysis point of everyones intelligence so that each student has
relatively the same amount and type of knowledge. I would use the worksheet on the following page to
have students keep track of the peer responses and to synthesize their information.

Gunner Brown
Name:________________________________

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

SA + V Linguistic Learner Analysis

Find a member of each one of the other intelligences. Have a discussion with them about
what you already know about surface area and volume, and what they already know. Have them
describe their knowledge in their own intelligence method of their choosing (words, actions, pictures,
etc) and write down what you learned in your own words.
Logical-Mathematical:

Spatial:

Bodily-Kinesthetic:

Musical:

Interpersonal:

Intrapersonal:

Naturalistic:

What changes to your own knowledge of SA and V did you make by hearing from your peers?

Was there anything that any person/intelligence said that you did not think was correct? Explain.

Which intelligence was the easiest for you to discuss with? How about the hardest? Explain why you
think that was the case.

If you had to recommend picking an intelligence to learn about surface area and volume with, which
one would you choose and why?

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Synthesis: Here we have the students begin researching why surface area and volume came
about, and how they got their name. I imagine students doing their own inquiries into word history and
the history of the subject itself. I would have students document their findings in a paper of their own
words. The prompt of this work would be: What is the history and etymology of surface area and
volume?
Evaluation: For this final step of assessment in the linguistic intelligence, students will be
evaluating their own peers discussion of 3D shapes and their surface area or volume. Students will be
asked to create their own rubric for evaluation, of which the teacher will be able to grade and see in
action. Students can be asked to evaluate their peers at lower levels, or even do higher order evaluation
of other intelligence projects.
Sample teacher rubric:
4
3
2
1
Students rubric is
Students rubric cannot
Students rubric is fair
mostly fair, but
Students rubric is
be determined as fair
and without bias.
contains some biased
unfair to students
or unfair
language.
Students rubric can be Students rubric can be Students rubric can be
Students rubric is
used for all possible 3D
used for most 3D
used for only a select
inaccurate for any
shapes
shapes
shape
shape
Students rubric
Students rubric
Students rubric uses
Students rubric uses
contains what all words contains a lot of words
very few vocab words
no vocab words
they are looking for
they might look for
Student accurately
Student accurately
Student accurately
Student accurately
grades all the peers
grades most of the
grades very few of
grades none of their
possible with their
possible peers
their peers
peers
rubric
Student is able to
Student is able to
Student is able to
Student is able to
provide justification for provide justification for
provide justification for
provide justification for
some parts of their
few parts of their
all parts of their rubric
no parts of their rubric
rubric
rubric
Logical-Mathematical: This is the most traditional intelligence in the math classroom. Students will
learn terms and processes in the sequential order, and then learn about possible extensions to the
surface area and volume formula.
Knowledge: Students will be asked to identify what they already know from a 3D model, and
to think about what words they know. They will create their own list of words that they can identify, and
will add to their list based on what the teacher recognizes as things they do not know or need to know
more about. By the end of this activity, students should feel comfortable listing and recalling the words
in the linguistic knowledge section.
Comprehension: The teacher will walk students through the steps that it takes to find the
surface area and volume of a 3D shape. The teacher will work through several examples, scaffolding the
process so that initially the students are observing the teacher do problems, they do some together, and
then the students attempt a few on their own. The students could be then asked to work on a
traditional homework assignment to check for learning.

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Application: For the first assessment of this intelligence, students will be given several
standard 3D shapes and asked to find the surface area and volume of those shapes. Ideally the students
will be asked to do at least one of each type of shape, and the teacher grades both on correctness of
answer and work shown.
Name:____________________________

SA + V L-M Learner Application Assessment

1. Find the surface area and volume of the solid. Round to 2 decimal places and label with correct
units!

SA = _______________________
V = ________________________

2. Find the surface area and volume of the solid. Round to 2 decimal places and label with correct
units!
7ft

S A = _________________________
Volume = _____________________

5ft
5ft
3. Find the surface area and volume of the solid. Round to 2 decimal places and label with correct
units!
S A = _________________________
10

Volume = _____________________
4.1

4. Find the surface area and volume of the solid. Round to 2 decimal places and label with correct
units!
9 cm

15 cm

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Analysis: Here, students would be given either 3D models or 2D representations of shapes

and they would be asked to analyze them and make predictions about their SA and V. They would be
asked to compare different shapes and also similar shapes, trying to identify what part of a shape was
most likely to change the outcome of the measurement. I would also add that students would be asked
to work backwards, given the surface area or volume to solve for one of the missing side lengths.
Synthesis: This is where the logical-mathematical students would help explain or teach what
they know to members of the other intelligences. They would hopefully be able to connect to students
based on their knowledge of the process, and explain logically how they work through a problem. This
activity goes nicely with activities in the other intelligences where they are asked to work across
intelligences. The teacher can grade this activity if they choose by using a rubric similar to that
introduced in the linguistic intelligence.
Evaluation: As a final activity, students would be asked to judge the work of their peers in
solving a surface area or volume problem. Students would be presented with the work of several
students, whether they be in-class or examples from outside sources. They will be asked to create their
own answer key to the problems and then grade the answers given. Their grading should be fair and
accurate, and also be able to identify where mistakes occurred.

Spatial: The spatial intelligence is a great fit for the topic of 3D shapes. Obviously these students will do
best with a given manipulative, and will eventually create their own for use throughout the unit. The
spatial learners will begin with pictures and eventually add in the more mathematical knowledge to the
representations they already have.
Knowledge: Students will be given 2D shapes and will be shown 3D models and asked to
match them up. They will begin learning about the different parts of the shapes as they connect their
similarities and discuss their differences. They should not move on to the next section until they are able
to correctly identify a shape and what makes it unique from others.
Comprehension: For the comprehension level, students will create 3D manipulatives for them
to use throughout the rest of the unit. They will be given nets, and will be asked to identify the shape
and then create the 3D version of that shape to the best of their abilities. The teacher will have to
provide general art supplies such as paper, markers, etc. Some other things might be helpful as well, like
toothpicks or popsicle sticks. After the students have made their model, they will finish by labeling the
different parts of their shape. The worksheet of nets for them to use is on the next page.

Gunner Brown
Name:____________________________

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

SA + V Spatial Learner Comprehension

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Application: This is the spot where students will begin learning about SA and Volume. They
will begin by trying to create different shapes that they think have similar surface areas and similar
volumes. This is done so that they can think critically about what surface area is and what volume is.
Then they will be asked to use their own particular models to find the surface area and volume, with a
walkthrough with the teacher. This should be a guided activity that the teacher scaffolds to allow them
to work at their own pace.
Analysis: To assess what the students know thus far, students will be asked to take 3D
models, labeled by the teacher, and to find the surface area and volume of them. The models should be
malleable enough that the students can break them down and put them together as needed for their
learning. The teacher will be able to assess based on if they got the right answer but also if they were
correctly able to transfer the information from the model into a more mathematical sense, something
some spatial intelligences will struggle with.
Synthesis: Students will work cross-intelligence with another student, either creating a new
model or using one of their already made ones to find a variety of surface areas or volumes. This activity
would probably work best with a more logical-mathematical learner or similar intelligence. The idea is to
bring together the abstract visual nature of the problems with the mathematical baseline that is needed
to compute. Students should already know how to solve for surface area and volume, but this activity
allows them to see it from another perspective.
Evaluation: The final activity asks students to go out into the real world and examine the
buildings around them. The shapes they examine should probably be basic, but the idea of what the
building was trying to accomplish is an interesting topic. Students should look for a building that created
a big surface area, but was not worried about volume, and vice versa. Students will also be asked to
estimate the surface area and volume to the best of their abilities, and report their findings with
pictures and descriptions.

Bodily-Kinesthetic: With this intelligence, the goal is to keep the student actively moving as they are
learning about 3D shapes. This involves having them move to different areas of the room, and to actively
participate in measurement of shapes rather than just being given the measurements on their own. This
helps to increase their involvement and knowledge of the pieces.
Knowledge: Students will be shown 3D models of shapes, and be asked to identify similar
types of 3D shapes throughout the classroom or school, if possible. They will be asked to label different
parts of those shapes, and to even measure those parts if they are ready. The goal is for students to
recognize the different shapes but also to feel comfortable measuring their different parts accurately.
Comprehension: To assess initial learning, students will demonstrate a 3D shape using their
body and other manipulatives. This assessment can even be a group assessment, where the students
create a 3D shape using their arms, legs, etc. The teacher can assess through questioning of the
students, such as What type of shape are you now? and perhaps more importantly What body part is
the height of the shape? The teacher can then judge whether or not the students are ready to proceed
based on the quality and correctness of their answers.
Application: Students will be asked to measure a shape of their choosing and to correctly
calculate the surface area and volume. Before they are able to do this on their own, the teacher should

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

guide the students through several calculations of objects around the room. The teacher should show
them and discuss on objects like desks, structural poles, etc. so that the students feel comfortable doing
the same with any possible shape they could encounter in their outside world. The student should
report back with a picture of the object they measured, and a description of their process that they
went through. If the student feels more comfortable, they could even demonstrate their process as a
part of a skit.
Analysis: This activity is actually an addition to the one before. Here students will have gotten
feedback on their initial step, and this time will be asked to investigate and compare several shapes.
They should be asked to find a variety of shapes and sizes, and pictures should be included for each
object. Students should have to demonstrate their findings as a result of what they learned about the
different shapes and what shapes are easiest/hardest to measure and calculate.
Synthesis: For the assessment, students will be asked to demonstrate their knowledge as a
group of kinesthetic learners. They will be given time to create their own shape using just body parts
and other manipulatives, which they must then show to the class. While in the shape, one of the group
members must demonstrate how they would solve for the surface area and volume for the shape. The
teacher would be able to grade the members of the group by the following rubric:
4

The group created a

easily recognized 3D
shape with proper
explanation

The group created a

easily recognized 3D
shape but were unable
to explain it

The group created a 3D

shape, but it was hard
to recognize, even with
explanation

The group was able to

accurately measure all
of the parts

The group was able to

accurately measure
some of the parts
The group calculations
were somewhat
correct, using their
measurements
The group member did
not allow others to
work, but did do more
than their share

The group was able to

accurately measure
very few of the parts

No parts were
identified correctly

The group calculations

were not correct, using
their measurements

The group did not

know how to calculate
or measure

The group member did

less work than their
peers

The group member did

no work to help the
group

The group calculations

were all correct, using
their measurements
The group member
participated equally
and fairly

1
Students could not
create a 3D shape that
accurately portrayed
something they should
know

Evaluation: For the final part of this intelligence, students will be asked to use their
knowledge in a real world setting. Students will be presented with a series of tasks, asking whether or
not a person would be better off walking around a 3D shape (surface area) or through it (volume). The
point of this activity is to have students investigate a variety of objects and to determine what is most
important to them in that situation.

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Musical: The musical intelligence will probably be the hardest to adopt to the geometry sense. It does
not fit overly well with 3D shapes, but there are some interesting areas to explore. The musical student
would be best served by also incorporating aspects of their other strong intelligences to help them
proceed through the unit.
Knowledge: Students would be shown the different types of shapes they are going to need to
know, whether as 2D shapes or 3D models. The different parts of these shapes should also be explained
to them. Their task would be to create a cheat sheet that has musical instruments that match, as close
as possible, to the shapes they were given. They should also use labels to identify the parts of the
instrument they would need to know for surface area and volume.
Ex. Bass Drum as cylinder
radius
Height

Comprehension: Ideally, students would be able to go and measure 3D instruments somewhere

and could match them to their own particular shapes. Much like in the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence,
students would be asked to figure out the individual measurements of a shape. Also, students would be
able to make some noise with each instrument and discover how volume and surface area might change
the sound an instrument makes. The easiest instrument would be a drum, because of the variety of size
but same shape in all of them.
Application: For the first assessment, students will be asked to find the surface area and volume
of several rooms around the school. The rooms should be similar shapes (rectangular prisms) but be
different sizes. Ideally, students would be able to go to a small room, like a closet, a medium sized
classroom, and then a large room like a gym or common area. They should make a variety of loud noises
in these areas and talk about how their voices change based on the size of the room. The students
should record the sounds so that they can demonstrate to the teacher and classmates what they heard.
Also, they should be able to answer questions like Was there an echo in some rooms, but not others?
Why?
Analysis: This activity will be similar to the application activity, but will require students to do
some research on concert halls. They can do their research on local places or famous places around the
world, but they should be trying to determine if there is some particular setup that all concert halls use
to keep aesthetically pleasing acoustics. They should be able to explain what they found and also to
decide if there is a ratio of SA to V that they would use to build a concert hall.
Synthesis: Students will create a song that demonstrates how they find SA and V. The song can
be an original creation or a parody of an existing song. The song itself should be accurate, but also
entertaining and done well enough that any person can see it and know roughly how to find the surface
area and volume. This would be a great group activity and would be something that students would

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

need to do with their own time. After their song, the teacher should try and solve a problem using the
steps they suggest to test whether or not it was done well. A rubric follows:
4
3
2
1
The group created a
The group created a
Some parts of the song
song that was able to
The song was
song that was able to
were hard to
be understood and was
unintelligible or offbe understood and was
understand, or was
done with average
topic
done with high quality
poor quality
quality
Little of the
The steps were not
The information/steps
The information/steps
information/steps were
found or were not
were all correct
were mostly correct
correct
correct
The teacher could use
The teacher could use
The teacher could use
The teacher could not
the song to get the
the song to get the
the song to get the
use the song to get the
correct answer 100% of correct answer 75% of
correct answer 50% of
correct answer
the time
the time
the time
The group member did
The group member
The group member did The group member did
not allow others to
participated equally
less work than their
no work to help the
work, but did do more
and fairly
peers
group
than their share

Evaluation: For the final activity, students will be tasked to create several new instruments.
They will convert existing instruments, whether hypothetical or with a model, into new shapes. This way
they can see how the shape change affects the music and tone of the instrument itself. They can then
synthesize this data into a description about why instruments have the shape that they do. For example
what happens if you turned a cylindrical drum into a cone drum? Does it change sound? What about if
the bases were not circular, but hexagonal?

Interpersonal: The interpersonal groups would ideally be working together throughout the process,
being able to work in a linguistic but also logical-math way. The best skill that these groups should have
is that they work well together and are able to learn from the people around them.
Knowledge: This activity would be very similar to the linguistic or logical-math knowledge
activity, except that the group would be working together to create definitions and to memorize them.
They would be actively quizzing each other using pictures, words, definitions, and making sure that they
know exactly the definitions that they need. The students will be ready to move on when they no longer
need time to think of the correct answer to a question posed by their peer.
Comprehension: This would be a large group discussion, possibly including all the interpersonal
learners or even the whole class. I would begin this activity by allowing the students to lead, asking them
how they would find SA and V of the shapes they already know about. Then we would scaffold as I
explained how I would do these problems, and eventually ask them to discuss within their groups what
they understand and need more help with. The teacher would be able to informally assess this by asking
the students to describe the process in their own words.

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Application: Students will use their group to demonstrate to the rest of the students how to find
surface area and volume. Initially students will be given several example models to practice with,
working together to find the answers that they need. They can discuss answers with the teacher or
other groups. Once the group feels comfortable and ready to present, the teacher will provide them
with a problem and they will solve it for everyone else, working as a team. The class can then have a
discussion on if they see mistakes with the work of the group.
Analysis: This activity would be a direct tie to the real world. Students would do research to
discover where SA and V show up in the careers of people around them. They would do the research on
their own, but then contact someone in one of their fields and talk to them about how they use it and
how often they do so. They would be able to show their findings in an oral presentation, being able to
answer questions that students might have about the profession or other types of jobs that might use
what we are learning.
Synthesis: Much like the musical students came up with a song for this section, the
interpersonal students will create a skit where one of them is needed to find the surface area and
volume of some object. The students should be able to make the situation realistic, but yet entertaining
enough to hold the attention of the class. The work shown to solve the problem must be correct as well.
A sample rubric follows:
4
3
2
1
The group created a
The group created a
The group created a
The group created a
skit that was somewhat
skit that was not
skit that entertaining
skit that was not realentertaining and well
entertaining but was
and well tied to reality
life applicable
tied to reality
real-life applicable
Little of the
The steps were not
The information/steps
The information/steps
information/steps were
found or were not
were all correct
were mostly correct
correct
correct
The teacher could
The teacher could
The teacher could
The teacher could not
translate the skit into a translate the skit into a translate the skit into a
translate the skit into a
process that works
process that works 75% process that works 50%
process that works
100% of the time
of the time
of the time
The group member did
The group member
The group member did The group member did
not allow others to
participated equally
less work than their
no work to help the
work, but did do more
and fairly
peers
group
than their share
Evaluation: The student will explain the process of solving for surface area and volume to
someone who is struggling with the material or to someone from a different class. The setting should be
1:1 and represent a tutor-tutee relationship. While the teacher cannot assess how well the person
learning material is doing, the teacher can assess whether or not the student is able to effectively relay
the information to their peers. The teacher should also look to see if the student is effectively matching
their instruction to the intelligence strengths of the student they are teaching.

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Intrapersonal: Students who want to work independently will be able to work at their own pace, while
still gaining a deep knowledge of the information. They will do their own reflections on possible
applications of the learning and be able to connect it to something meaningful in their life.
Knowledge: The student will create their own flashcards to rotely memorize the words and
definitions that we need to know. They will use the same list that is in the linguistic intelligence, and will
be able to create the flashcards in a meaningful way to themselves. There should not be much teacher
instruction here. Also, as an alternative, students could work independently on an online flashcard
website, such as https://quizlet.com/21623119/flashcards.
Comprehension: Here the student would create their own paper that helps them distinguish
between surface area and volume. The paper should be their own words about how they view surface
area and volume. Also, they should be able to use the definitions and words from earlier to describe
surface area and volume.
Application: After completing the comprehension piece that helps ensure the students know
what they need to know, the student will tie this new knowledge into an old memory to help make the
information meaningful and applicable to them. The memory could be something small, like the size of
their first house, or could be something bigger, like the volume of a mountain they visited. These topics
will hopefully force students to connect the material to themselves and become personally invested in
knowing it.
Analysis: For this assessment, students will have to classify and find the surface area and
volume of several different 3D shapes. I plan to create this activity as a station activity, where each
station is progressively more difficult than the last. This way I am able to properly assess where the
student is struggling, and if they need more help before finishing the unit. My stations would be:
1: A cylinder with radius 4 and height of 10.
2: A cone with a radius of 6, a height of 8, and a slant height of 10.
3: A rectangular prism with length 3.5, height 4.5, and width 7.
4: A triangular pyramid, with length 11, width of 20, and height of 17.
5: A hexagonal prism with each side being 11, the apothem being 9, and the height being 20.
6: An octagonal pyramid, with radius of 17.5 and a height of 31.3.
Synthesis: After students have demonstrated a strong knowledge and application of the
material, the next activity asks them to think about what happens to the measurements if we start
switching numbers around. For example, what would happen to the surface area if we switched the
base and the height? Does shape matter, or is it only the numbers that matter? Students would
investigate these on their own and draw some conclusions that they found interesting or meaningful.
They would be asked to share these results with the teacher to demonstrate their learning.
Evaluation: The final application for intrapersonal intelligence will be for them to create a list, or
write a paper, describing the different ways in which surface area and volume might be applicable to
them in the future. For some students that may not be a lot of ways. But I think for any student, they

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

can talk about the surface area and volume of the house they are going to buy when they get older. But
for some students who might be considering certain careers, they will be able to connect to the idea
even more. Hopefully this allows students a final chance to invest in the material and have their own
sense of what is important to them. Even if they are not going to use math in their future, it is always
important to let students discover who they are.
Naturalistic: The naturalistic intelligence will look very similar to the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. The
main difference will obviously be that the naturalistic group will be asked to do a lot more of their
learning outdoors, with naturally occurring shapes than with man-made objects. Obviously some of the
tasks will have to be done indoors for assessment purposes, but the student can do a lot of their work
away from the classroom and individually as well.
Knowledge: This activity will look just like the knowledge activity from the musical intelligence.
The student will be asked to identify a shape in a natural setting that they are able to identify as
something similar to what they are learning about in class. This may be a difficult task, as rarely are
shapes in nature as perfect as the ones we draw, so the students may have to be a little generous in
their definition of what they consider to be a shape. However, there are some examples. Like the
musical section, the students should identify the parts of these objects as well.
Ex. Rectangular prism as a rock formation

Comprehension: Rather than continuing to work in the hypothetical field, here the students
should actually go outside and actively search for examples of what they learned. They should take
pictures of objects the think represent what we have been doing. For example, they could recognize that
a tree is a pretty solid example of a cylinder, or that a pine cone is just a cone. They do not have to do
any measurements yet, as that comes in the application stage.
Application: After the teacher makes sure that all the shapes that the student came up with are
correctly identified, the teacher will then have the students measure those objects and begin to
calculate their surface area and volume. As mentioned above, it is likely that the shape is not a perfect
shape, so the students should be encouraged to do their best estimation on their measurements.
Analysis: After the students return with their measurements, the teacher will begin guiding
them through the process of finding the surface area and volume that they are looking for. The teacher
will do some examples of their own work and then be able to assess how the students are doing on their
personal shapes. This will be the main assessment tool for this intelligence because it is the piece that
best ties nature to the math we want to accomplish.

Gunner Brown

EDU 627 Unit Modifications Project

Synthesis: Once the students have completed their computations, they will begin making their
own object that they can put into a natural environment (e.g. birdhouse). This object should be a
measureable type of solid that has been discussed, and they should be able to compute its surface area
and volume. Also, students should be able to explain why they chose the size they did, and if it was to be
bigger what they would do to increase the volume (I wanted to put more birds in there, so I doubled the
width of my original designs).
Evaluation: The final thing this group will do is to research why some shapes are what they are.
For example, why are trees usually cylindrical? Why are diamonds usually shaped like prisms or
pyramids? Clearly there is some order to why nature has the shapes that it does, so here the student has
the opportunity to investigate these mysteries and hopefully connect strongly to the material.