Mo l l i e H .
A p p e l g a t e , C h ri s t a J a c k s o n , K a ri J u rg e nso n,
iSTEM and Ashley Delaney
Mathematics concepts using
STEM connections
“I think what’s nice about STEM . . . is
understanding that this is math and
science. It’s not just math. It’s not just
science. We’re using both components together,
and making sure that [students] understand”
(fourth-grade teacher 2017).
Principles to Actions: Ensuring Mathematical
Success for All (NCTM 2014, p. 17) recommends
that “effective mathematics teaching use tasks
to motivate student learning and help students
build new mathematical knowledge through
problem solving.” When learning mathematical
concepts with a STEM lens, students are moti-
vated because they can make connections to
and engage in the applicability of mathematics
through real-world problems. We present two
math concepts, volume and triangles, that were
introduced to students within a STEM context.
Volume is conceptually challenging for stu-
dents and has traditionally been taught through
the process of “plug and chug,” using a formula.
When teaching angles and different types of
triangles, teachers often use protractors. How-
ever, neither of these approaches connect the
mathematical concepts to children’s experi-
ences. Approaching these concepts using sci-
ence and engineering connections, specifically
through boats and bridges, opens up pathways
for students to make sense of these difficult but
important concepts.
Volume lesson:
Connecting to boats
Our guiding questions were, What is volume?
and How can it be measured? Students worked
in groups of four, and each group received
a different laminated boat to construct (see
fig. 1; find full-size templates in the online
more4U materials).
Students constructed their boats by folding
their paper on the dotted lines and securely
taping the corners. Although each boat had
the same volume (72 cm3), they all had differ-
ent dimensions:
394 April 2018 • teaching children mathematics | Vol. 24, No. 6
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Teachers ofto
Mathematics,
you by Inc.
[ Communal
All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed electronically or in any other format without written permission from NCTM.
• Boat A: 6 cm × 4 cm × 3 cm
• Boat B: 9 cm × 4 cm × 2 cm
• Boat C: 6 cm × 3 cm × 4 cm
• Boat D: 9 cm × 8 cm × 1 cm
Before students discovered this, we asked them
to decide which boat had the largest and the
smallest volume. We wrote their responses on
the board and then asked how we could check.
This was the students’ first formal introduc-
tion to volume, and although no one said the
boats had the same volume, some children had
more knowledge about volume and suggested
we could check the volume by filling the boat
with something. We asked students to fill their
boats with 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm base-ten unit
cubes and record the number of cubes that their
boats held. Students were surprised to find that
each boat held seventy-two cubes, or 72 cm3.
How could boats that look so different have the
same volume, hold the same number of cubes,
and take up the same amount of space? The
class discussed these questions and how to use
dimensions to determine volume.
Teacher: I just heard Dylan [with boat C] say that
he could count the first layer of cubes on the
bottom and that he knew there were three more
layers. So he said needed three [more] eighteens.
Student 1: Some of the boats have lots of layers,
and boat D has only one layer.
Student 2: Yeah, and if you take eight times
nine, you will get seventy-two.
Teacher: Interesting. So, how can we take this
idea about layers to help us figure out the vol-
ume of the boats?
Students realized that if they took the area
of the base and multiplied it by the number of
layers, it equaled the volume of the boat. After
JULIARSTUDIO/THINKSTOCK
discussing solid volume, we asked students to
look at water bottles and see how the volume
was measured on the label. Students saw that
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 Each group received a laminated

FIGU R E 1
boat outline. All had the same
volume but different dimensions.
Students folded the paper on the
dotted lines and taped the corners.
liquid volume was measured in fluid ounces and
milliliters (mL). We introduced a 100 mL gradu-
ated cylinder and how to use it. Taking turns at
their table, students filled a graduated cylinder
with 100 mL of water and used that water to fill
their boat to the top edge. They used the leftover
volume of water to calculate how many mL filled
their boats. (Note: If students’ boat folds are less
than precise or their tape does not cover the cor-
ners, allowing water to escape, measurements
can be incorrect.) Students were surprised to
see that measurements were approximately 72
again. We asked, “How could 72 mL and 72 cm3
measure the same space when they are differ-
ent units?” To help students understand this
concept, we asked each group to fill a 25 mL
graduated cylinder with 20 mL of water. Then
students dropped one unit cube into the water,
and we asked, “What happened to the water?”
Students saw that the sunk cube raised the water
level by 1 mL. They concluded that the cube
must have a volume of not only 1 cm3 but also

ASHLEY DELANEY
1 mL. To summarize the lesson, we asked stu-
dents to define volume and describe two ways
to measure it. As an extension activity, students
can also test how much load each boat holds
in water to reinforce the concept of volume by Students loaded unit cubes into their boats to
observing water displacement. measure the volumes of the A, B, C, D boats.

Triangles lesson:
Connecting to bridges
The guiding questions of this lesson were, What
geometric shapes make bridges the strongest?
and How can that shape be used to make a
bridge? To begin, students were to construct
various shapes (e.g., squares, rectangles, trap-
ezoids, and triangles) from strips of cardstock
and to use brads to secure the vertices. The
teacher then asked students to test the strength
MOLLIE H. APPELGATE

and stability of the shapes they had created.

Students were unclear initially about how they
could “test” a shape’s strength or stability until
they started manipulating their shape.

Student 1: Hey, when I press [on my square], it
folds down on itself.
Student 2: Mine too, but I used a rectangle!
Teacher: Do you think that will happen with the
other shapes?
After students constructed, tested, and tried
to create stronger revisions of several different
shapes, they shared their shapes and findings
about strength and stability. When triangles
Students designed these shapes initially.
were presented, the teacher prompted students
to discuss what kind of triangle it was by classify-
ing it according to its sides and angles. By look-
ing at triangles that had been created, students
were able to identify acute, obtuse, and right
angles in the triangles as well as classify each
triangle as equilateral, isosceles, or scalene on

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iSTEM

MOLLIE H. APPELGATE (3)

the basis of the length of its sides. To conclude
the discussion, the teacher asked, “Which
shapes were the strongest and why?” Students
shared how the quadrilaterals pivoted at the This local Warren truss bridge uses
corners and how, to keep quadrilaterals as their equilateral triangles.
shape, they would need something additional,
such as tape, so that sides would not rotate and
collapse. Students discovered that triangles
did not need the extra materials to keep their
shape, so they concluded that triangles were
the most stable.
The teacher asked if anyone had seen tri-
angles used in bridge design. After listening to
their answers, she shared pictures of different
A local modified Warren truss bridge
truss bridges and asked students to identify the
incorporates right and isosceles triangles.
types of triangles they saw in the pictures.
Students noticed that certain bridges are
made of equilateral triangles (e. g., Warren truss
bridges) and that others are made of isosceles
triangles (e.g., a K-truss or a modified Warren
bridge). Students used the cardstock strips
and brads to make a truss bridge side of their
choice; they presented it to the class, describ-
ing the types of triangles and angles it used. As
a result of this lesson, students could create and
categorize triangles by their sides and angles,
and they discovered why triangles are used in Students built models on the basis of
bridge design. different bridge designs.

Conclusion
Learning about volume, angles, and triangles
through their connection to STEM, particularly
engineering and design concepts, supports
students in seeing mathematical ideas as rel-
evant to their daily experiences. By connecting
to students’ experiences, these tasks encour-
age reasoning, provide multiple entry points,
and use different representations for students
to experience the mathematics (NCTM 2014),
which makes the mathematical learning deeper
and more applicable.
RE F E RE N C E
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM). 2014. Principles to Actions: Ensur-
ing Mathematical Success for All. Reston, VA:
NCTM.
professor of mathematics education at Iowa State
University and is interested in students’ mathematical
reasoning and problem solving. Kari Jurgenson,
karij@iastate.edu, is a doctoral student at Iowa State
University and has taught middle school and high school
mathematics. Ashley Delaney, delaneya@iastate.
edu, is a doctoral student at Iowa State University
who is studying teaching and learning in mathematics
and STEM education. Edited by Melissa M. Soto,
melissa.soto@mail.sdsu.edu, an assistant professor
of mathematics education in the School of Teacher
Education at San Diego State University in California
whose research interests focus on Cognitively Guided
Instruction and children’s mathematical thinking,
professional development for elementary teachers, and
mobile technology.

Mollie H. Appelgate, mollie@iastate.edu, an assistant

professor at Iowa State University in Ames, researches
teacher learning in STEM and enjoys seeing how STEM
connections can make mathematics more meaningful.
Christa Jackson, jacksonc@iastate.edu, is an associate
Go to http://www.nctm.org/tcm to find
full-size boat templates. Access to this
online material is a members-only benefit.

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