<p>Middle Grades Lesson Plan Building With Toothpicks Name </p><p>1. Explain how to find the perimeter of shape 5 above.</p><p>2. What is the perimeter of the nth shape in the pattern above? 3. How would you explain the area of shape 5? Shape n?</p><p>Teacher Comments Building with Toothpicks, submitted by David Erickson, The University of Montana, [email protected] On February 6, 2010, Lisa Scott from the Billings Public Schools led a session at the MCTM/MSTA Leadership Conference in Bozeman, Montana in which a group of teachers addressed a problem similar to this one. In watching and listening to the attendees explain how they solved the problem using toothpicks, we observed a variety of ways, all accessible to middle school students. As you pose similar problems with your students, you will want to have toothpicks and graph paper available, and then listen as they explain how they find the perimeter and area of these shapes. How many different ways do they use? Do they use patterns, graphs, rules (symbolic expressions/equations), numbers, and word descriptions? Challenge them to find as many different ways to describe their thinking as they can. Challenge them to make connections among the various ways. Listen carefully to your students; they do know a great deal and need encouragement to share their thinking. Thanks to all the participants for the good strategies! References Friel, S., Rachlin, S, & Doyle, D. (2001). Navigating through Algebra in Grades 6-8 (Building with Toothpicks, pp. 13-17). Reston, VA: NCTM. http://www.montanamath.org/leadership2010/montanaprogress.ppt http://www.nctm.org/profdev/content.aspx?id=23531</p>