3D Cube Towers: Learning Maths with Visual Patterns

3D Cubes by Lachlan

We have been exploring a sequence with 3D cubes. We asked the the question how do you see the pattern growing? 

We drew the cubes on isometric dot paper. Some of us found this really challenging and we needed to use a Growth Mindset to work through the challenge. 

We worked hard to find how many cubes would be in the 5th tower in the sequence. We begun to explain how we could work out the number of cubes in any tower in the sequence. 

Rim: We are learning to draw 3D shapes and to work out how to count all the cubes together. I spotted my mistakes here. Mistakes help the brain to grow.  

Orla: We are drawing what we think the pattern will look like when it is bigger. We think it will look like this. We are practising drawing 3D shapes and learning about height width and length.

Some of our students were so inspired that they ran a workshop on 3D shapes with Tautoru kids.

Megan: We taught year 1s, 2s and 3s to make a cube tower. They did it really well. They persevered a lot. It felt weird to see how tricky it was for them but it was cool when they finally worked it out. It made me feel good that I could help other people and give back to the school.

Ruby: The kids were really nice and did their best! I had to use perseverance and kindness. Sometimes the kids (and sometimes me) found it challenging. It can be quite hard to explain. I had to use courage because it can be nerve wracking. I thought that they might not listen. It was fun and would love to do it again. It is good to help others to try new things.