Lesson 12
Surface Area of a Cube
Lesson Narrative
In this lesson, students practice using exponents of 2 and 3 to express products and to write square and cubic units. Along the way, they look for and make use of structure in numerical expressions (MP7). They also look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning (MP8) to write the formula for the surface area of a cube. Students will continue this work later in the course, in the unit on expressions and equations.
Note: Students will need to bring in a personal collection of 10–50 small objects ahead of time for the first lesson of the next unit. Examples include rocks, seashells, trading cards, or coins.
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Generalize a process for finding the surface area of a cube, and justify (orally) why this can be abstracted as $6 \boldcdot s^2$.
- Interpret (orally) expressions that include repeated addition, multiplication, repeated multiplication, or exponents.
- Write expressions, with or without exponents, to represent the surface area of a given cube.
Student Facing
Let’s write a formula to find the surface area of a cube.
Required Materials
Learning Targets
Student Facing
- I can write and explain the formula for the surface area of a cube.
- When I know the edge length of a cube, I can find its surface area and express it using appropriate units.
CCSS Standards
Addressing
Print Formatted Materials
Teachers with a valid work email address can click here to register or sign in for free access to Cool Down, Teacher Guide, and PowerPoint materials.
| Student Task Statements | docx | |
| Cumulative Practice Problem Set | docx | |
| Cool Down | Log In | |
| Teacher Guide | Log In | |
| Teacher Presentation Materials | docx |