Zoo

The first part of this task is to find the largest area with a perimeter of 100m. Most students start by looking at different rectangles by changing the dimensions, some may need an example to start. Once they have found the shapes with the largest area, they can design their Zoo taking in to consideration the factors given. Students should be encouraged to think about what else a Zoo needs other than just animals. They can then look at routes around their Zoo and estimate timings if you were to walk around it.

Resources: For weaker students the perimeter could be reduced to 20m, and they could consider this first, and then try out their solution for a larger perimeter. Students could be given a blank table to help organise their results. Giving students a set area to design their Zoo works well – A4 5mm square paper or A3 1cm square paper worked well. The nrich problem; Largest Product http://nrich.maths.org/1785 could also be used as an introduction to this task.

Reflections: For the most able students this task could be used to introduce Pythagoras and/or Trigonometry. However for the majority of students the task could be used to assess their knowledge of area and perimeter, while using it as a teaching opportunity for accurate drawings and construction. Students could then construct different polygons to count or calculate the areas.