Little Boxes

Activity

Students’ spatial visualisation can be developed further by having them use isometric dot paper to draw shapes that have been made with cubes. It is easier for students to draw models in this form if they have had experience building cube models from complete drawings first.
Students who have difficulty with isometric drawing will need to start by drawing a single cube:

From this initial drawing, the students can go on to add more cubes:

The greatest difficulty students have working out how many cubes were used to make a drawn building is visualising the cubes that they cannot see. Experience in making and drawing their own cube building is vital to develop spatial awareness of hidden parts of three-dimensional solids.
Getting students to make cube buildings from other students’ drawings is an important part of three-dimensional work and encourages creativity and ownership in problem solving.

Answers to Activity

1. a. 4
b. 6
2. Answers will vary.
3. Teacher to check