Curriculum Connections: Science—The Environment (garden design)
Grade Level: 3–4
Journal Article: “Butterfly Gardens” edited by Colleen D. Foster. Teaching Children Mathematics 18, no. 9, pp. 526–29
Overview: The focus of this lesson is the concept of perimeter and area. Using a realistic context, students are asked to design three different shaped butterfly gardens, each with a perimeter of 64 feet. It requires students to build rectangles with a constant perimeter adjusting the area to accommodate an area the school has designated for this purpose. The problem context has students explore what happens to the area of a two-dimensional shape as the perimeter remains the same. It is important that students have some understanding of perimeter and area, and this task is designed to help students construct a deeper understanding of the two concepts.