Lesson Procedures
The Activities and Instruction the Plan with Utilize
In this lesson, we will explore volume, surface area, graphs, functions, tables, plots, maximums and minimums.
Students will be challenged to design an inexpensive soda can: one with minimum surface area.
Students will be asked to calculate volume and surface area of a standard soda can. Students will
then be given the formula for surface area of a fixed-volume cylinder as a function of height.
Students will then be asked to complete a small table, plugging in height values and calculating radius and
surface area.
After completing a few table calculations, students will proceed to complete the design with
the calculators. Students will be asked to calculate more values in an attempt to predict
the optimal design. Once students have ventured a guess, they will plot the surface area function on the
graphing calculator. Students will then use the minimum-finding ability of the calculator to
estimate the actual optimal soda can design.
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