The Cube Challenge

Primary (Age 6 – 9)

Curriculum Goal

Primary: Geometry and Spatial Sense

  • Identify congruent lengths, angles, and faces of three-dimensional objects by mentally and physically matching them and determining if the objects are congruent.

Context

  • Students begin by working in pairs and then in groups of four.

Materials

  • Multilink cubes

Lesson

  • Have pairs of students make 3D structures composed of 3, 4, and 5 multilink cubes.
    • Ensure both students within a pair works with the same colour of cubes.
    • Invite students to create as many unique structures as they can.
  • Have each pair of students compare their structures with another pair of students.
    • Ask the group of four to put each unique structure on a designated area (e.g., a mat).
  • As an entire class, have students make sure they have created each shape.
    • Ask students from each group to describe one of their shapes while the other groups check to make sure they have built that shape too.
  • Make a class collection of structures: take one team’s collection and ask the other groups to add the structures that are missing. There should be 21 structures all together.

Look Fors

  • What spatial language is being used by the students as they describe the composition of cubes to their partner?
  • Can students accurately recognize identical shapes?
  • Are students able to recognize shapes that are mirror images of one another?

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