Visy Education - Football Fields of Paper

Australian curriculum content descriptions:

Year 7 Maths: Standard area

• Establish the formulas for areas of rectangles, triangles and parallelograms, and use these in problem-solving (ACMMG159).

Year 8 Maths: Standard area but provide less scaffolding on tasks

• Choose appropriate units of measurement for area and volume and convert from one unit to another (ACMMG195).

General capabilities: Numeracy, Critical and creative thinking, Ethical understanding.

Cross-curriculum priority: Sustainability OI.8.

Relevant parts of Year 7 Mathematics achievement standards: Students use formulas for the area and perimeter of rectangles and calculate volumes of rectangular prisms.

Relevant parts of Year 8 Mathematics achievement standards: Students convert between units of measurement for area and volume.

Unit of work: Visy Education – Secondary Mathematics.

Time required: 80 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium – the teacher will need to facilitate an investigation, class discussion and provide further information to students during the course of the lesson.

• Student Worksheets (one copy per student)
• Device capable of projecting images and quotes
• A ream of A4 paper to map out the area of a designated space (e.g. classroom). Try to use paper from your staffroom recycling bin to avoid wastage
• Measuring tapes to measure the dimensions of the designated space
• Thumb tacks or small weights to keep the paper from moving or blowing away
• Scales (if you choose to weigh paper)
• Rulers (if you choose to measure paper)

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• Critical thinking
• Global citizenship
• Problem solving
• Social skills

This lesson has been developed in partnership with Visy. For over 70 years Visy has been committed to finding sustainable solutions for Australia and New Zealand’s recyclables and helping to reduce local landfills. Visy collects, receives and sorts paper, cardboard, glass, plastics, steel and aluminium from households, businesses and schools with the purpose of reusing these products in the re-manufacture of new packaging products.