Young geometers and biologists investigate the math of nature in an activity that is just the bee's knees. Participants will study the tessellations of hexagons in a beehive, along with the natural rationale behind the specific shape. Learners perform calculations to justify the bee's use of a hexagon, and then answer synthesis questions to provoke a deeper understanding of the identified characteristics.

Concepts

nature, hexagons, area, ratios, perimeter, tessellations, geometric

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Could be part of a larger unit on math in nature (i.e. Fibonacci in flowers and shells, symmetries of sea creatures, etc.)
• Good review of equilateral triangle properties
• Could be used to introduce or justify general area of a polygon formulas
• Possible links to tessalation projects in art class

Classroom Considerations

• The more information link for Honeycomb Structure takes the reader to Wikipedia (which may be blocked in the classroom, or a forbidden source for research).
• Student worksheet is not separated from teacher notes
• Solutions require deep knowledge of triangles (trig ratios, equilateral triangle properties, etc.)

Pros

• Elegant and real-life example of math being applied in nature
• Calculations lead into fundamental properties of polygons
• Extension questions require synthesis and analysis beyond calculations

Cons

• Solution example comparing ratios of hexagon perimeter and area to that of a square or triangle is simply given without much explanation or justification (part b)

Common Core

HSG-MG.A.1 MP4