Composite Area Assembly Lines Activity

Since it is the end of the year and my kids are extra disengaged in class (read: way hyper and ready to get out of here), I've tried to really make this last unit fun. In some ways I've succeeded, and in some ways, I've failed. However... this activity was a big success.

Before I did the activity, I split my kids into groups of 3 - heterogeneously by skill level. One person in each group needed a phone for the purpose of reading the QR codes. This person was partner #3 Then the other two numbered off as partners #1 and #2. I borrowed ( I read their terms of use, and it said it was fine.) a bunch of composite figures from Math-Drills.com. However, I modified them a lot. Several of the measurements made no sense. For instance, there were several "right triangles" where all three side lengths were given, but they didn't satisfy the Pythagorean Theorem. So, in publisher, I used a lot of white rectangles to cover up nonsensical measurements. Anyway, partner #1 finds the area of shape #1; partner #2 finds the area of shape #2; and partner #3 finds the area of shape #3. Partner 3 then adds the three answers together to get the total area of the figure. Finally, the partner uses his/her phone to scan the QR code. If the answer is correct, they go to the next card. If the answer is incorrect, the card goes back to partner #1 to check his/her work and find the error.

My initial hope was to laminate these cards, so student could write their partial areas on the cards before passing them to the next partner. However, this didn't happen. I just ran out of time. That's my next step.

I'm attaching the PDF. I think I've fixed all the weird measurements. If you catch one, be sure to let me know.

Also, I know problem #1 is weird... it's really just two steps - area of a trapezoid and of a rectangle, but I wanted to split it into three to show kids you could do it with rectangle/triangles rather than the trapezoid.

Download the PDF File (HERE)

Editable Publisher File (HERE)