Day 6: Spheres (Major lesson component)

Class Description
This is a 10th grade Geometry class. It is simulated by 8
students, 4 of which are male and the other four, female. Though
the classroom is quite large and the number of students is quite
small in comparison, I will have them sitting in groups of four
in the front of the classroom. Each table will have 2 males and
2 females. Since Jessie and Lydia are my higher level students
(in mathematics), I will put them at separate tables.
Unit Title

Lesson
Topic

3-D shapes
Spheres
and
applications

Type of
Lesson
Developmental
Lesson

MD State Curriculum
Standard/ MD Common Core
State Standard
Apply geometric concepts in modeling
situations
1. Use geometric shapes, their measures, and their
properties to describe objects (e.g., modeling a tree
trunk or a human torso as a cylinder).
2. Apply concepts of density based on area and volume
in modeling situations (e.g., persons per square mile,
BTUs per cubic foot).

Judges Prior Knowledge (How do you know students are ready to

learn the content in this lesson?)
In order to understand the significance of finding the surface
area and volume of a sphere, students must have a vast
understanding of how to find the volume and surface area of
cubes, pyramids and rectangular prisms. With time constraints, I
have elected to only review cubes and rectangular prisms.
Pyramids take a little longer to compute. Also, even though this
will be reviewed in lessons before this one, a mastery of
working with 2-D shapes and finding their area is crucial to
understanding the shift into 3- dimensions.

Lesson Objective(s):
Objective 1 Students will be able to analyze the major
characteristics of a sphere in order calculate its volume in
real world applications.
Objective 2 Students will manipulate an orange in order to

develop the surface area of a sphere.

Assessment(s):
Assessment for Objective 1 PowerPoint Question
The distance from the center of Spalding NBA basketball to any
point on the ball itself is 3inches. How much air should go
into the basketball to fill it up?
Is this a formative or summative assessment? Formative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or
performance assessment? Performance Assessment
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student
learning? It is a direct way to test the knowledge the students
were just given with a real world application.
Assessment for Objective 2 Orange discovery worksheet
Is this a formative or summative assessment? Formative
Would you characterize this assessment as a traditional or
performance assessment? Performance Assessment
Why did you select this assessment strategy to measure student
learning? This hands on activity requires a step by step process
of discovering the surface area of a sphere. The worksheet
chronologically takes the students through the thought process
they should have when completing this activity. It will be a
great way to make sure they are on track.

Materials Needed for Lesson

Oranges
PowerPoint slides
Additional pieces of paper
Napkins

Adaptation for IEP Student(s)

No IEP students in this particular lesson
Incorporation of Technology (if appropriate)
*If you are using a website, type in the website citation.
PowerPoint slides as a guide

Teacher
Key Questions
So a football is a
sphere right? Can
anyone give me some
examples of spheres?
Drill/Motivational
Activity

Key Questions
What makes a cube
different from a
rectangular prism? Why
is its surface area and
volume so easy to find?

Does anyone know why

the surface area is
squared and the volume
is cubed? Shouldnt
they both be cubed
since we are in 3dimennsions?
Transition

Lesson Development
Students
Anticipated
Responses?
No!! Balls:
basketball,
soccerball,
tennisball,
baseball etc.

Time
5 minutes

See Drill sheet

Anticipated
Responses?
Since a cube is
made up of squares,
the volume and
surface area are
calculated from
only one
measurement. A
rectangular prism
can have up to
three different
sets of dimensions
to work with.
No, surface area is
squared because
only two things are
multiplied at a
time. Volume is
cubed because it is
based on
multiplication of

10 minutes

three dimensions.
Activity 1

Key Questions

So now that
everyone seems to
feel comfortable
working with the
easier 3-D shapes,
lets move into a
more complex figure
in spheres.

What do we call r, the

distance from the
center of the sphere to Lecture:
any point on the
Information on
sphere?
spheres
How many faces does a
sphere have?

Anticipated
Responses?

Can anyone show me a

radius on this sphere?
Are there any others?

The radius

None!!
Does anyone know or
remember the volume of
a sphere?

Students can draw

any line from the
center of the
sphere to any point
Why do you think we use on the sphere
pi and r in our
itself. Therefore
equation for volume?
there are infinite
lines that students
can give me.
No.
Teacher response:
Assessment 1: The
The volume of a
distance from the
sphere, while
center of Spalding NBA
difficult and very
basketball to any point arbitrary is 4/3
on the ball itself is
r3.
3inches. How much air
should go into the
Because its based
basketball to fill it
on a circle.
up?
Teacher response:

Thats good to
Surface area is measure note. The volume
in squares. Why again?
has a lot to do
with the
accumulation of
circles. When we
get to surface
area, we will talk
Transition
a little more about
that.
36. There should
be no difficulty
seeing as though it
is simply a direct
implementation of
the equation.

Activity 2

Key Questions
What is the area of
each great circle you
created?

Because we are
multiplying two
things at a time.
Even though it is
in 3-dimmensions,
it is based on the
number of items
being multiplies.

The surface area

of a sphere is not
only difficult
How many great circles
because it does not
did you fill with your
follow the same
orange peel?
patterns as the
other shapes, but
What is the surface
in most cases,
area of a sphere being
students will
represented by in this
forget the equation
activity?
for surface area
more often than
So, if you were able to that of volume.
fill four great
Hopefully this next
circles, each of which
activity will spark
having area r2, then
you interest and
what can we say about
give you a
the surface area of a
memorable

10 minutes

sphere?

experience.

Transition
Discovering the
surface area of a
sphere
Anticipated
Responses?

Key Questions

r2

Before todays lesson,

did you have any idea
what the surface area
of a sphere is?

When you leave class

though, would you be
able to explain to
someone what the
surface area of a
sphere means to you?

The surface area of

a sphere is being
represented by the
number of filled
circles.
4r2

Summary/Closure/Revisit So to wrap up
Objective
todays lesson lets
think about then
importance of
visualization and
why it helps to
understand topics
Anticipated
Responses?
Safety Valve

No, in fact, I
dont even remember
learning about it.
The volume has
always been

embedded in my
brain. However,
with todays
activity, I not
only feel confident
using the equation,
I feel equally as
comfortable
explaining it to
someone else.
See Exit Ticket w/
answers
In todays lesson,
we completed both
objectives relating
to the surface area
and volume of a
sphere. The
important
information to take
away is the usage
of the formulas and
some basic
information about
spheres. These will
come back to haunt
you later, so do
not forget the
formulas!
With a 25 minute
lesson, yet alone a
math lesson, it is
really hard to plan
for a safety valve.
However, with a bit
of extra time, I
could provide more
real world examples
to drive the
concept home for
the students.
Reflection on assessment Assume that after you have taught
this lesson and assessed student learning you find that students

did not meet the objective(s). How would you plan future
instruction on this lessons content and skills to ensure
student mastery and application?
If I were to be informed, through assessment, that my lesson did
not coincide with the objectives, regardless of my time frame, I
need to find more time to discuss it. Seeing as though my unit
is 8 days with the initial assumption of 7, I may have that
extra day to go a little deeper in class. I would however need
to address this idea ASAP because once this unit is over, it
will be very hard to come back to it. We absolutely cannot skip
it because of its importance. Also, if I wanted to keep the
orange activity, because it worked so well, I can possibly cut
down on some lecture and give the students more hands on
opportunity. That is essentially what Common Core wants in the
long run anyway. To ensure students have mastered this concept,
I will make sure that surface area and volume are hit the
hardest.