Surface Area & Volume of Rectangular Prisms Project Based Learning City Aquarium

Real Life Math Project (PBL): City Aquarium Designer. If you want your math lessons to be an unforgettable experience for your students, be sure to check out this math enrichment project.

In this project, your students will step into the roles of aspiring Marine Architects, participating in a competition to design a city aquarium. This project provides a rich, real-world context for students to apply and deepen their understanding of key mathematical concepts, including calculating the volume and surface area of rectangular prisms, unit conversion (feet and inches), and rounding numbers.

The challenge involves creating a vibrant marine habitat within a rectangular prism aquarium. Students will select a variety of aquatic animals, each with specific space requirements, and calculate the total volume needed. This task will require careful calculations and considerations of the aquarium's volume, promoting a practical understanding of three-dimensional geometry.

Students will also calculate the surface area of the aquarium to determine the number of algae eaters needed. Finally, students will draw a colorful design of their aquarium, summarize the project, and make a compelling pitch to convince the city to choose their design.

What is wonderful about it?

This project gives your students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills through meeting challenges, and solving real-world problems, and keeps students engaged. They can work at their own pace and don't even realize they are learning.

Give students more control over their learning by letting them make their own decisions. Students will LOVE picking animals for their own aquarium. Every choice matters, so they need to make choices wisely. The team competition for the best aquarium project leads the students to begin to analyze more and more, and calculate more and more what pays off better.

This resource includes:

- The editable digital version in Google Slides™.

- The editable PowerPoint™ version.

- The printable version in PDF.

- An example of a completed project.

- The Grading Rubric.

Check out Inspire Math Matematyka for more resources.