Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 1

Module 2 Application Assignment

Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions

Samantha DiMatteo

Marygrove College

Geometry Perimeter & Area Student Interview Questions

Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 2

(1) Your weekly chore at home is to mow the grass. Your parents want
to lay 1000 square feet of sod in your back yard and then build a fence around it.
They have already purchased the sod, but they want to use the least amount of
fencing possible to surround the sod. What should the dimensions of the yard be?
Show your work and explain how you made your decision.

(2) The woodshop teacher has been asked to design a table for the cafeteria that can
accommodate 24 students. To sit comfortably, each students edge of the table will
be one-yard in length. What would be the best design so that he could maximize the
area of the tabletop? What dimensions would provide the least amount of area on
the tabletop? Show your work and explain how you made your decision.

(3) Find the length of fencing needed to fence this piece of property.
Then find the area of the property. [Note: All angles are right angles]

Answer: Perimeter = ______ yards

Answer: Area = _________sq. yards 3 17

5
7 12

17

(4) Is it possible for two triangles to have the same area and not be
congruent? If so, provide an example.

(5) 14
8
Identify the area of the shaded region.
Show your work.
12.8 10 Area = ________

Geometry Perimeter & Area

Possible Student Constructed Responses

Thompson & Preston (2004) state, The constructed-response questions

ask students to determine and write an answer on their own and, in some
cases, to explain their solutions (p.525).

(1) Your weekly chore at home is to mow the grass. Your parents want
Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 3

to lay 1000 square feet of sod in your back yard and then build a fence around it.
They have already purchased the sod, but they want to use the least amount of
fencing possible to surround the sod. What should the dimensions of the yard be?
Show your work and explain how you made your decision.

(2) The woodshop teacher has been asked to design a table for the cafeteria that can
accommodate 24 students. To sit comfortably, each students edge of the table will
be one-yard in length. What would be the best design so that he could maximize the
area of the tabletop? What dimensions would provide the least amount of area on
the tabletop? Show your work and explain how you made your decision.
 Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 4

Wiggins and McTighe (2011) state, Distinguishing between understanding and factual
knowledge is arguably one of the biggest challenges in teaching (p. 62). For this reason it is
imperative that my assessment tasks are carefully designed so that my students have an
opportunity to showcase their understanding of the material opposed to simply plugging
numbers into algorithms or reciting facts.
When considering the topic of perimeter and area I chose to develop questions that
required students to and justify their solutions both numerically and pictorially. I will support
 Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 5

student learning through instruction that encourages my students to be inquisitive and provide
opportunities for students to see how the material we learn relates to their lives outside of the
classroom. Reeder (2007) states, As students begin to see mathematics as something more
than a set of disconnected algorithms and concepts but rather as something embedded in their
lives and their surroundings, it becomes more intriguing, interesting, and personally relevant
(p. 154). Rather than present my students with a list for formulas I will ask that they explore
methods to find perimeter and area that are not solely dependent on an algorithm. I will
provide challenging assignments during cooperative pair activities or independent classwork
and I will respond to student questions in a way that guides them in the right direction so that
they can work to obtain the solution on their own. Van De Walle, Karp, and Bay-Williams (2013)
explain, engaging in productive struggle is what helps students learn mathematics (p. 15).
Additionally, I will facilitate classroom discussions that help us discover different ways that we
can approach various perimeter and area problems. Van De Walle, Karp, and Bay-Williams
(2013) explain that teachers should create conceptual, meaningful methods for conversations
rather than rules that are often misused and forgotten (p. 379). In order to help my students
develop the foundational skills they will need to be successful in their futures I must emphasize
the importance of comprehension and application of the subject matter, not simply the
regurgitation of facts.
The first two questions for my student interview address the ideas of fixed area and
perimeter. In the first question students are given a fixed area and must identify the smallest
perimeter. Alternatively, in the second question students are asked to find both the maximum
and minimum area that can be constructed with a fixed perimeter. In each of these questions I
will be assessing whether my students can come up with the most relevant solutions to each of
these real world problems. As with any new application students may have some
misconceptions. One of the main misconceptions I anticipate is that if an area is fixed the
perimeter is also fixed; likewise they may feel that if the perimeter is fixed the area will also
remain constant. Van De Walle, Karp, and Bay-Williams (2013) state, Students may be
surprised to find out that rectangles having the same areas do not necessarily have the same
perimeters and vice versa (p. 388). By sketching different rectangles that have varying
dimensions, or by listing factors of each set of numbers given in the problem, students will
likely discover all of the different scenarios that can satisfy these fixed perimeter or fixed area
problems.
The third problem asks students to identify the perimeter and area of a unique figure.
The most prevalent misconception that I feel may arise is that students may try to resort to a
formula, only to discover that one doesnt exist for this particular figure. Van De Walle, Karp,
and Bay-Williams (2013) explain, A common error is to confuse the formulas for area and
 Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 6

perimeter. Such results are largely due to an overemphasis on formulas with little or no
conceptual background (p. 388). Additionally, students may miscalculate the value of a
missing side. When assessing students on this problem I will look that they divided the figure
into rectangular sections, identified the area of each small section, and then took the sum to
yield the final area. In order to identify the perimeter I will look to see that students first
identified the lengths of each missing side and then took the sum all of the sides. Identifying
the area and perimeter of unique two-dimensional figures requires students to have a
conceptual understanding of the subject matter. If they have an in depth understanding of
perimeter and area they will be able to approach and solve this problem with ease; however, if
their knowledge of this topic solely based on their ability to use an algorithm they will struggle
to be successful with such problems.
Questions four and five shift our attention from rectangles to triangles, but still test the
students conceptual understanding of area and perimeter. Question four asks students if it is
possible to have two different triangles that have the same area but are not congruent. I feel
that a common misconception would arise in which my students may feel that it is not
possible. In order to assess them on this question I will be looking that my students take the
time to sketch different scenarios that justify that this is in fact a possibility. Question five asks
students to find the area of the given triangle. This may appear trivial but I feel that some
students may make the mistake of using the slant height of the triangle opposed to its actual
height. Van De Walle, Karp, and Bay-Williams (2013) note that a, common error when students
use formulas comes from failure to conceptualize the meaning of height and base in two-
dimensional geometric figures (p. 389). The key factor for assessing this problem will be in
recognizing whether or not the student used the appropriate measure for height.
Heacox (2009) notes, Both the teacher and the student are able to assess learning
through the completion of the task (p. 61). Responses to each of these questions will help me
to recognize my students conceptual understanding of perimeter and area. This is because
each question requires students to apply their current understanding of perimeter and area to
scenarios that they have not yet been presented with. Bookhart and Nitko (2015) explains, A
well designed performance task gives students the opportunity to apply their learning to a new
situation, not just repeated information from class or from a text (p. 270). Their ability to
successfully answer these questions and justify their approach will help me to see the depth of
their understanding with this topic. Such assessment results will help me to determine if I
should proceed with new material or take the time to revisit some of the topics. The feedback
that such assessments provide can be a valuable tool in planning upcoming instruction.
Students who have a genuine understanding of the material will be able to validate their
knowledge not merely in their ability to recall, but in their ability to transfer. Bookhart and Nitko
 Perimeter & Area Assessment Questions 7

(2015) state, A well-designed performance task gives students the opportunity to apply their
learning to a new situation, not just repeat information from class or from a text (p. 270). With
these ideas in mind I designed assessment questions that require my students to demonstrate
their level of comprehension of the material, not just their ability to repeat facts or plug in
numbers into a formula.

References

Brookhart, S. M., & Nitko, A. J. (2015). Educational Assesssment of

Students. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Heacox, D. (2009). Making differentiation a habit: How to ensure success
in academically diverse classrooms. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

Kloosterman, P., Rutledge, Z., & Kenney, P. (2009). Exploring results of

NAEP: 1980 to the present. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 14(6),
357-365.

Preston, R., & Thompson, T. (2004). Integrating measurement across the

curriculum. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 9(8), 436-441.

Reeder, S. L. (2007). Are we golden? Investigations with the golden ratio.

Mathematics Teaching in the Middle School, 13(3), 150-155.

Thompson, T. D., & Preston, R. V. (2004). Measurement in the middle

grades: Insights from NAEP and TIMSS. Mathematics Teaching in the Middle
School, 9(9), 514-519.

Van de Walle, J. A., Karp, K. S., & Bay-Williams, J. M. (2013). Elementary

and middle school mathematics methods: Teaching developmentally (8 th ed.).
Pearson: Boston.

Wiggins, G., & McTighe, J. (2011). The understanding by design guide to

creating
high-quality units. Alexandria, Va.: ASCD.