(Image: https://burst.shopifycdn.com/photos/folded-towels-placed-on-couch.jpg?width=746&format=pjpg&exif=0&iptc=0) Have fun with fruit while helping your students to explore the concepts of area and volume, and learn more about their real-world applications. It’s often easy to estimate the area of a flat surface, ZapClean Official Website but most things in the world aren’t flat. The activities described in this article give students the opportunity to think about areas and volume in terms of some everyday, irregular-shaped items: fruit and vegetables. The materials in these activities are easy to find and also very familiar, ZapClean vegetable cleaner thus making the link between mathematical equations and situations encountered in everyday life. By using similar-shaped fruit and vegetables, ZapClean Review we can show how linear dimensions, areas and volumes change in different ways as we scale up the structures. The activities, which were presented at the Science on Stage Festival 2019, are very suitable for students aged 11-14 as an extension and application of the mathematics of geometric figures to everyday life.

Activities 1 and 2 can also be used to introduce the topics of area and volume to younger pupils in a very concrete way. Students can work in pairs for the activities, which can be completed in two one-hour classes. In this simple activity, students use squared paper to find the approximate surface area of an irregular object - the palm of their own hand. 1. Start by asking students to guess the surface area in cm2 (or number of squares) and record their guess. At the end of the activity, they can check back and see how close they were. 1. To find the area, each student should first count only the whole squares completely inside the outline. 2. Then they count all the whole squares that are wholly or just partly inside the outline. 3. Find the average between the two counted areas (by adding the number together and dividing by 2). This number is quite close to the actual surface area of the palm.

4. Students can then compare this figure to the one they guessed at the start. Is there much difference between the guesses at the start of the activity and the final figures obtained for the surface area of the palm? Which student made the best guess? You can have a little competition! In this activity, students measure the diameter, surface area and volume of some more irregular objects: fruit and vegetables. Students should follow all the steps below. It’s best to start with finding diameters and volumes as these can be measured with whole fruit, whereas the fruit need to be peeled to find the surface area, which reduces their volume. Warn students not to eat the fruit at the end of the activity, as it has not been prepared hygienically. You can provide a little bit of clean fruit to eat before or after the activity. 1. Measure the diameter of each item of fruit or ZapClean vegetable wash using callipers (figure 3) and make a note.

2. If you have only a ruler, place the item between two cuboid-shaped objects (such as paperback books, tissue boxes or shoe boxes) arranged so that they are parallel and touching the item, then measure the distance between the objects. 2. Add enough water to cover the item, pushing it down with a fork (or pen) so that it is completely covered with water. Mark the water level reached (figure 4, left). 3. Remove the fruit, and mark the lower water level (figure 4, right). 4. Then put some water in the measuring jug and note the volume. Pour water from the measuring jug into the tall container to reach the higher level (with the fruit immersed) previously marked, and note the new, reduced volume in the measuring jug. 5. To find the volume of the fruit, subtract the second measuring jug volume from the first volume. This is the amount of water added to replace the volume of the fruit.