Designing Aquarius

Focus Aquarius Design Grade Level High School Geometry (mostly 9th and 10th grade) Focus Question If you could create a new Aquarius laboratory, how would you design it using the shapes and their properties you have learned? Learning Objectives: NC State Objective and Goal Being Addressed: GEO.M.1: Use geometric shapes, their measures, and their properties to describe objects. GEO.M.3: Apply geometric methods to solve design problems. Learner Objective(s): At the completion of this lesson, students will be able to identify shapes in real life applications and use their knowledge of the properties to problem solve. Materials Poster size paper, markers, rulers.

Audio/Visual Materials PowerPoint, Worksheet

Teaching Time 90 minutes. Seat Arrangement Assign students to groups of 4 and have seats grouped by 4 so as they enter they can easily sit in their assigned groups. Maximum Number of 24 Students Key Words Aquarius, Shapes, Geometry, Group Work

Background Information Students will be working on shapes and their properties already in (Prior Knowledge) the class. They should be able to classify shapes such as cylinders, spheres, etc. Opening Activity (10 Minutes) To begin class, students will watch a video on Aquarius so they can see what it is and what it is about. This will bring their attention in because it is something that many students have probably not seen and it is a new concept. Once the video has ended, open up a small discussion to discuss what it is about. Just enough to bring everyone’s focus to this cool program. Fun facts to bring into play: -It can withstand depths up to 120 feet -Currently at 63 feet -Weighs 81 tons -43 x 20 x 16.5 (feet) -Hot water, microwave, shower, toilet, fridge, AC, and computers! -Missions last 10 days -“Excursion line” rope navigation system Learning Procedure (5 Minutes) Discuss floor plan of Aquarius. What shapes are there? (Activity) Notice how compact and tight everything is. Why?

(45 Minutes) In your groups, design your own underwater laboratory using shapes we have discussed in class. List the shapes and how you incorporated them in your design. You need a floor plan and a side view. Designing Aquarius

(25 Minutes) After working to finish their plans or most of it, have students present in their groups to the rest of the class. Once every group has gone, have students vote for the plan they liked best. Make sure they cannot vote for their own group. Winners get bonus points on the next text or assessment. Connections to Other This lesson connects to science in a major way. From the marine life Subjects to the research procedures, Aquarius can fit in many different science lessons. It is also great for history since researchers have been doing dives for years and it is easy to write about. Overall, this fits in with a lot of other subjects. Closing Activity and (5 Minutes)As a class, discuss why this underwater lab has the shape Assignment that it does and why other buildings were built the way they were. This will be mostly opinion based rather than factual. For homework, each student needs to research a building that has a cool shape and write a little blog about it. They need to include a picture, the shape, location, what it is for, and why they think it is shaped that certain way. Does not need to be super detailed, but show effort and understanding of the shapes. Assessment The final discussion will show whether students have been paying attention. The homework allows the students to ‘marinate’ on the subject of shapes and apply it to more real life scenarios so they can see math outside of the classroom. This allows you to make sure everyone clearly understands shapes. Other Links and Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch? Resources v=WyKAuuwOppY&feature=relmfu Aquarius information: http://aquarius.uncw.edu/about/