Matching cubes and nets

Matching cubes and nets

Auto-markingPencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about showing which nets can make a cube.

Question

cube
Which of the nets fold to make a cube? (Choose as many as you like)

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How did you work out which nets make cubes?

Question 1Change answer

Thinking about nets for shapes ...
 
Did you imagine folding the net to work out the shape?   YesNo
 
Could you explain to somebody else how it folds to make the shape?   YesNo
 
Can you imagine unfolding the shape into the net?   YesNo
 
Do you think you could work out nets for most shapes?   YesNo
Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pen and paper or online (with SOME auto marking).

Students should have already had opportuntiy to create their own nets for cubes before completing this task.

Encourage students to identify all the nets that can fold to make a cube rathe rthan just one.

 

Levels:
2, 3
Curriculum info: 
Maths, Geometry and Measurement, Shape
Keywords: 
nets, cubes
Description of task: 
Students identify nets that can fold to make a cube and explain how they know.
Curriculum Links: 

This resource can be used to help to identify students' understanding of identifying nets for cubes.

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Geometric thinking, set 3
Geometric thinking, sets 3-4
within the Mathematics Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 

answers

 

Item difficulties (Shapes read across each row starting at Upper left hand corner)

   
Year 4 (11/2013)
Online
Shape 1 Tick moderate
Shape 2 - very easy
Shape 3 Tick very easy
Shape 4 - very easy
Shape 5 Tick easy
Shape 6 - very easy
All  3 ticked (none incorrectly ticked)
2 ticked (none incorrectly ticked)
1 ticked (none incorrectly ticked)
  
difficult
easy
very easy
Based on a sample of 41 Year 4 students.
NOTE: Fewer than 10% ticked any of the three shapes that could not be folded into nets.
 
Student explanations
About two thirds of the 41students in the trial gave an explanation of how they decided which nets folded to make cubes.
Those who said they used visualisation had the most correct matches, closely followed by those who described mental strategies without explicitly mentioning using visual cues.
Explanation Examples Performance level
Visual
I pictured it
By imagining I were seeing them being folded
 High
Mental / imagining
I pretened that a was folding them in my mind and tick the ones that maked cubes.
I imagined folding them up to make cubes, and figured which ones would out from that.
 High
Mental and manual
I imagine the fold up as I move my finger the way they would fold
 Medium
Prior experience
Because I've made a cube at school.
 Low
Other statements
Because a cube has 6 sides and it has 6 sides
I matched all the nets and selected the ones that made cubes.
 Low
No statement - Medium

Based on a sample of 41 Year 4 students.

Teaching and learning: 

This resource is about visualising nets for a cube. 

Diagnostic and formative information: 

Most students visually identified one or more cubes correctly and typically did not incorrectly identify shapes that did not fold to make a cube.

The most common shape to not be correctly identified was the first shape shown.

Next steps

Students who could not identify all the nets for a cube or identified incorrect nets could be asked to justify (describe) how the nets fold to make the cube. If required they could be given opportunty to explore the other similar resources (for example Nets for a cube).  

Students who correctly identified all 3 nets (and no incorrect answers) could be asked if there any other nets (not shown) that could be folded to make cubes - furthermore how many can they find, and have them work in pairs to check each others work.