Perimeter
Most elementary school students have a good understanding of perimeter as the measurement of the distance around a figure. But sometimes students are so accustomed to finding perimeters where the length of every part of a figure is given and they just have to add all the given numbers. So, students who do not have this understanding of perimeter will find it difficult to determine the length of a side if it was not stated explicitly. On the other hand, a good relational understanding of perimeter includes reasoning based on relationships among the sides of a given figure.
By using the hands on investigation approach students will understand how the formulas are short cut methods used in calculating the perimeter of a given shape. With this in mind, investigating perimeter using differentiated centers would be ideal. Once students master the concept they can be asked to explain or justify why the following formulas are true.
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