IT’S A WRAP!
By: Laurie E. Beauvais

STANDARD: All students will be able to recognize gender bias, stereotyping and discrimination in school materials, activities, and classroom instruction.

All students will be able to list strategies to overcome gender bias, stereotyping, and discrimination.

GRADE LEVEL: Mathematics, 9-12

OBJECTIVE(S):

1. Students will measure with a metric ruler.
2. Students will compute the volume of a rectangular prism.
3. Students will compute the total surface area of a rectangular prism.
4. Students will calculate the percentage of wrapping paper used.
5. Students will describe how they arrived at each answer.

TIME: 3-5 class periods

MATERIALS:

1. 1 box per group
2. plain paper
3. loose-leaf paper
4. ribbon
5. wrapping paper
6. colored pencils
7. scotch tape
8. calculators
9. metric rulers
10. It’s a Wrap Worksheet (see below)

PROCEDURES:

1. Students are paired up.
2. Distribute the project information sheet. (see attached)
3. Give each group a box.
4. Assist and guide students in determining the procedure for figuring out the amount of wrapping paper they will need. This should be done on a group by group basis as some groups will figure it all on their own (based on their gift wrapping experience).
5. Provide students with the formula for computing the percent.
      % = area of wrapping paper - total SA of the box x 100
                                         total SA of the box
      SA = surface area
6. Once students have completed items 3 and 4 on the information sheet, provide them with that amount of wrapping paper and ribbon and have them wrap the box.
7. Students should now write their report to wrap up the project.

HINTS:

• If you will be doing this project with more than one class, number the boxes so you may use them more than once. This will decrease the number of boxes you will need. Be sure the boxes are different sizes so groups will not share information.
• The teacher should measure the boxes beforehand.
• Newspaper may be used for wrapping some boxes.
• The day before the students will actually be wrapping their box, have each group give you the dimensions of the wrapping paper and the length of the ribbon they will need so you will be able to cut the wrapping paper and ribbon ahead of time. This expedites the process.

INTEGRATED ACTIVITIES: Reports can be word processed to incorporate computer usage.

EXTENDED ACTIVITIES: If the project is being done around the holidays, students could volunteer to wrap presents as a community service project.

ASSESSMENT:

You will be given a box. Your assignment is as follows:

Determine:

1. Its dimensions (specify your unit)
2. The maximum amount of material it could hold (for example, if it were filled with sand)
3. The minimum amount of wrapping paper you would need to wrap it. Keep in mind, you must allow additional paper for folding and overlapping. Express this amount as a percentage of the total surface area of the box.
4. If you put ribbon around the middle, the minimum amount you would need.

Presentation of findings:

Not only will you state the answer to each part above but you will describe how you arrived at each one. Please be sure your report includes a cover page, your names, the number of the box you used, and you answer each question using complete sentences.

The final test of your project: