Surface Area Project: Rectangular Solids and Cylinders

Students will bring in a box (and cylinder) from home and use it to find surface area (using 2 different methods), volume and to create a net. Students will also review measurement and use appropriate units (squared and cubed).
This project will enable the students to actually understand the surface area formula. (instead of just plugging numbers into a formula) They will not only use the formula, but also calculate the area of each of the individual 6 faces of a rectangular solid (and parts of a cylinder). Students will discover that whichever method they use, the answer will be the same. They will also have to explain (write) the reason why the two answers match. This project can be used to introduce, review or assess surface area. Teachers can extend this lesson and use it for any other 3-D shape.

Included in this lesson: 2 different versions of direction pages (one with a rubric) for the students, notes for the teacher and pictures of teacher created and student created Surface Area Posters.