Lesson Plan: Surface Areas of Spheres Mathematics • 8th Grade
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to use the formula for the surface area of a sphere in terms of its radius or diameter to find the sphere’s area, radius, or diameter.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall the formula for the surface area of a sphere,
- use the formula for the surface area of a sphere to calculate its surface area given its radius or diameter (or vice versa),
- understand the relationship between the great circle and a sphere,
- understand how to calculate the surface area of a sphere given information about its great circle,
- calculate the surface area of a hemisphere or any other fraction of a sphere,
- solve real-world problems involving the surface area of a sphere.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- calculating areas and circumferences of circles and fractions of circles,
- real numbers and operations on them.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- volumes of spheres,
- surface areas of cones.
