Area Builder
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About
Topics
- Area
- Perimeter
- Fractional areas
- Scale factors
Description
Create your own shapes using colorful blocks and explore the relationship between perimeter and area. Compare the area and perimeter of two shapes side-by-side. Challenge yourself in the game screen to build shapes or find the area of funky figures. Try to collect lots of stars!
Sample Learning Goals
- Find the area of a shape by counting unit squares
- Describe the relationship between area and perimeter
- Build shapes with a given area and/or perimeter
- Find the area of an irregular shape by decomposing into smaller, regular shapes (e.g., rectangles, triangles, squares)
- Determine the scale factor of similar shapes
- Generalize how area and perimeter change when scaling shapes
For Teachers
Teacher Tips
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Overview of sim controls, model simplifications, and insights into student thinking ( PDF ). |
Teacher-Submitted Activities
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Authors | Level | Type |
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| Scaling Shapes Activity and Lesson |
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Amanda McGarry | MS HS |
Guided |
| How do PhET simulations fit in my middle school program? |
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Sarah Borenstein | MS | Other | |
| Alignment of PhET sims with NGSS |
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Trish Loeblein | HS | Other | |
| Area Builder Lesson | Stefanie Akrish | K-5 | Lab HW Guided |
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| MS and HS TEK to Sim Alignment | Elyse Zimmer | HS MS |
Other | ||
| Area Builder for grades 3-5 | Molly Martin | K-5 | Guided | ||
| What's My Area? | Rachael Ortega | K-5 | Lab CQs |
Translations
Related Simulations
Software Requirements
| Windows 7+ | Mac OS 10.7+ | iPad and iPad Mini with iOS | Chromebook with Chrome OS |
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Internet Explorer 10+ latest versions of Chrome and Firefox
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Safari 6.1 and up latest versions of Chrome and Firefox
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latest version of Safari
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latest version of Chrome
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Credits
| Design Team | Third-party Libraries | Thanks To |
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