The following resource has been kindly shared on the TES Maths website. It is available to download for free by registering. And to access all the lovely Resource of the Week (ROTW) resources, just click here

What is it?
A couple of years ago, one of my favourite TES Maths authors created a wonderful “Area of Flags” activity, which made use of the rectangles and triangles that compromise many of the nation’s flags. Well, due to public demand he is back with a circular variety, and it is both brilliant and flipping hard! Students must calculate the areas of given sections of the flags of the likes of Denmark, Macedonia and South Korea. All of this is accompanied by a PowerPoint, worksheet and answers!

How can it be used?
This should definitely be used after a lesson on area and circumference of circles as a means of stretch and challenge. Whilst the first few questions are fairly straight forwards, pretty soon we get into the likes of this for the Tunisian flag: “The star and the crescent take up 1/3 of the area of the circle, which has a radius of 6cm. The height to base ratio of the flag is 3:4. Work out the area of each separate colour”. As I say, luckily the answers are provided! The different context might just motivate and engage students more than usual, and give them valuable practise at an important skill.

Thanks for sharing!
Craig Barton

Download Area of Flags with Circles

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