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It’s as Easy as Pi
Jennifer Jackson
5th Grade
Chattanooga Valley Elementary School
Walker County Schools
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Task
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Overview
In this task, students will discover the relationship between a circle’s circumference and its diameter as an introduction to pi by measuring several circular objects.
Illustrative Task
Adapted from Texas Instruments Activity Exchange
- Carefully wrap string around the circumference of your circular object. (Ask a partner to help.)
- Cut the string when it is exactly the same length as the circumference.
- Now take your “string circumference” and stretch it across the diameter of your circular object.
- Cut as many “string diameters” from your “string circumference” as you can.
- How many diameters could you cut?
- Try this with at least 3 different size circles. What do you notice?
- Compare your data with others. What do you notice?
- How do you think the diameter and circumference of a circle are related?
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GPS Addressed
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M5G2. Students will understand the relationship of the circumference of a circle, its diameter, and pi (π or 3.14).
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Video Information
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Use these questions to guide your thinking about some of the important teacher ideas in the lesson featured in the video clip.
- What kinds of questions does the teacher ask to promote students’ problem solving?
- How is the teacher gauging students’ current understandings and building from those understandings?
- Consider the GPS standards listed with this video.
- What makes this lesson different from lessons you have taught on this topic?
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