Farm Your Way into Geometry

A WebQuest for 8th Grade Math

Designed by

 Alejandra Rios and Cruz Rodriguez

Cruz.Rodriguez@sfdr-cisd.org
Alejandra.rios@sfdr-cisd.org

 

 

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Credits

 

Introduction

Get into the farming mode!  It is time to Farm Your Way into Geometry!  You have volunteered to help Farmer Brown with his crops.  You will team up with three other farmers and solve each of Farmers Brown’s farming dilemmas. You will each be given a particular task to complete.  Each of the following tasks must be completed in order for Farmer Brown to have a successful and profitable season. You must fence off the farm, calculate the area of the farm, buy and plant the crops.  Then, wait and see if your hard work turned into a BIG profit. 

Task

You are farmers that have agreed to help Farmer Brown with planting his crops this fall.  You must divide his trapezoid shaped farm into sections for planting. You will be planting corn, beans and wheat. Your farming team must:

 

 

 

 

 

 


Farmer Brown’s Farm

  • Fence off the farm
  • Section each area for planting
  • Purchase fencing material
  • Purchase seeds for planting
  • Keep a running Budget of all expenses
  • Keep a Journal of all activities completed by you.

 

Process

Farmer Sides

 

·          Use the Pythagorean theorem to generate  “c” the missing side of the farm.

Farmer Brown

 

 

 

·          Generate the perimeter of the farm.

·           How will the perimeter be affected if each side is increased by ½ of the size?

·          Last year, the fence cost $25.50/ ft2. How much will it cost to fence the entire farm?

·          How much will it cost to fence each of the tree areas?

·          If this year the economy rose 3.5%, how much will it cost to fence the entire farm and each of the three areas?

 Farmer   Green

 

·          Generate the area of the farm in ft2.

·          Generate the area of each section of the farm in ft2 .

·          How will the area of the farm change if the width is increased by 10 ft?

·          Explain how the area will be affected if the base is reduced by 1/3 of its original size?

 

Farmer Budget

 

·          Given these 3 crops (corn, beans, wheat) decide where each will be the most profitable using the chart below.

Crop Chart

Seeds

Cost/ft2

Selling Price/ft2

Profit

Corn

$8.50

Cost + 5%  =

 

Beans

$5.00

Cost + 2%  =

 

Wheat

$ 12.00

Cost + 8%  =

 

 

Resources:

Trapezoid:  http://www.gomath.com/geometry/trapezoid.asp

Boundaries:   http://www.nationalgeographic.com/gaza/a004.html

Perimeter/Area:  http://www.shout.net/~mathman/html/prob4.html

Area: http://www.school.eb.com/browse/learning?topic=g612_math_index

Pythagorean Theorem: http://www.school.eb.com/browse/learning?topic=g612_math_index

Percents: http://users.erols.com/toftness/BasicMath/fract_nf.html

Evaluation

Math - Problem Solving: Farming into Geometry


Teacher name: Rodriguez and Rios

Student Name ___________________

 

CATEGORY

4

3

2

1

Mathematical Concepts

Explanation shows complete understanding of the mathematical concepts used to solve the problem(s).

Explanation shows substantial understanding of the mathematical concepts used to solve the problem(s).

Explanation shows some understanding of the mathematical concepts needed to solve the problem(s).

Explanation shows very limited understanding of the underlying concepts needed to solve the problem(s) OR is not written.

Mathematical Reasoning

Uses complex and refined mathematical reasoning.

Uses effective mathematical reasoning

Some evidence of mathematical reasoning.

Little evidence of mathematical reasoning.

Mathematical Errors

90-100% of the steps and solutions have no mathematical errors.

Almost all (85-89%) of the steps and solutions have no mathematical errors.

Most (75-84%) of the steps and solutions have no mathematical errors.

More than 75% of the steps and solutions have mathematical errors.

Working with Others

Student was an engaged partner, listening to suggestions of others and working cooperatively throughout lesson.

Student was an engaged partner but had trouble listening to others and/or working cooperatively.

Student cooperated with others, but needed prompting to stay on-task.

Student did not work effectively with others.

Neatness and Organization

The work is presented in a neat, clear, organized fashion that is easy to read.

The work is presented in a neat and organized fashion that is usually easy to read.

The work is presented in an organized fashion but may be hard to read at times.

The work appears sloppy and unorganized. It is hard to know what information goes together.

Completion

All problems are completed.

All but 1 of the problems are completed.

All but 2 of the problems are completed.

Several of the problems are not completed.

 

Conclusion

Now that your farming days are over, would you conclude that geometry could be found everywhere?  The Pythagorean theorem helped you calculate the missing sides of the farm.  You were able to fence off the farm by finding the perimeter.  The area of the farm helped you calculate how much seeds to buy and plant. Finally, you determined which crop would make you the riches. 

Credits & References

"We all benefit by being generous with our work. Permission is hereby granted for other educators to copy this WebQuest, update or otherwise modify it, and post it elsewhere provided that the original author's name is retained along with a link back to the original URL of this WebQuest. On the line after the original author's name, you may add Modified by (your name) on (date). If you do modify it, please let me know and provide the new URL."

 

Last updated on 10-29-02. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page