The area of a figure measures the size of the region enclosed by the figure and is usually expressed in terms of some square unit (Math League, 2006). A few examples of the units used are square meters, square centimetres, square inches, or square kilometres. One of the ways to teach area to students is by using Geoboards.
Students are asked to make any a rectangular shape on the Geoboard using the plastic band. Then, students are asked to calculate the area of the rectangle. As each box of the board is in square shape and each line that connects two dots is considered as 1 square unit, so it is possible to calculate the area of the rectangle using the board.
What is the area of the rectangle?
6 x 1 = 6 square units.
Other forms of shapes that students can make using the Geoboards:
Other sorts of questions that teachers can ask to the students to identify areas of shapes using the board:
1) On a 4 by 4 Geoboard, how many different sized squares can you make using rubber bands?
2) How could you make a square with NO edge and just the 4 vertices?
3) How can you make a square whose area is 2 square units?
4) Can you make a square with an area of 3 square units?
