Area of a Circle Worksheet

This worksheet is designed for students to transform a circle in order to derive the formula for
the area of a circle (𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2 ). Students will have to look for patterns that exist as well as think
abstractly. The teacher will model the activity and let the students investigate on their own.
Understanding of the content will be accomplished through hands-on activity and cooperative
group work.

 Teacher will keep students in groups of 4. Students will perform the activity
individually but use the group dynamic to assure understanding. Students may question
others and offer guidance to those who may not be on the same level.
 Teacher will hand out Area of a Circle worksheet and Area Circles worksheet to each
student.
 Teacher will review the term “area” from the Gallery Walk which was done at the
beginning of the period. Students will discuss and teacher will probe for understanding.
Make sure that all students are on the same level as far as area is all the space on the
inside of the circle. Introduce the formula 𝐴 = 𝜋𝑟 2 and ask how that came to be. After
short inquiry tell them that they are going to prove it themselves.
 Teacher will start with the Area Circles worksheet. Ask the students to describe what
they see and to compare and contrast Circles A and B. (Responses should be similar to:
The two circles are the same size, Circle A has 3 diameters and 6 radii, Circle B has 6
diameters and 12 radii)
 Teacher will instruct students to cut circle A out. Once that is completed, instruct
students to cut out the “wedges” of the circle. This is done by starting from the outside
of the circle and cutting along the radius to the center point. From there continue to cut
from the center point to the outside of the circle along the adjacent radius. Repeat this
until circle A is completely cut out into 6 equal wedges.
 Teacher will now ask students about transformations. Make sure to reference back to the
Gallery Walk done at the beginning to the lesson and go over the sheet that had
“transformation” on it. For the purposes of this lesson transformation is simply going to
be taking an object from its original orientation and changing its shape while preserving
its same area characteristic. In this activity it is taking a circle and making a
parallelogram out of it.
 This lesson is designed to derive area of a circle. Ask the students about how to find the
area of an object. Again reference the Gallery Walk sheet that had “area” on it. Get the
students to keep it simple and know that area is going to be length of the base multiplied
by length of the height (A = b * h).
 Instruct the students to place all the wedges of Circle A back together to form a circle.
Now ask them to use whatever tool they wish and measure the base and the height of the
circle (2-3min). Students will try, but be confused as to what to measure. This is done
on purpose. Teacher should encourage investigation until most of the class understands
that it cannot be done. Use this as a learning opportunity to say that a circle does not
have a base because it is not a polygon and does not have definite sides.
 Instruct students to take their circle and move the wedges anyway they want in order to
make a shape where they can measure a base and a height (5-10min). Teacher will use
this time to walk around the room to ensure students are on task and performing the
procedure correctly. Teacher should ask questions and encourage students to be creative
when moving the triangles. Students should also be working within their groups to
discover different shapes.
 Once all students have made a shape, instruct them to measure the base and the height.
This part is critical for them to understand. If they are only to measure base and height,
that must mean the shape has to be a square or rectangle. Since neither of these are
possible to make with the wedges, teacher should introduce the term parallelogram.
NOTE: depending on the level of the students, class and where the class is in the year,
properties of parallelograms may not have been introduced yet. For the purpose of this
lesson, it is written with the understanding that students have been exposed to the
properties of parallelograms. Teacher should use this as a point of review before going
on with the rest of this activity.
 Instruct the students to now make a parallelogram with the wedges. Have them sketch
the drawing in the space on the Area of a Circle worksheet labeled Circle A. Check for
understanding by asking the students if they see that the shape resembles a
parallelogram, has a base and has a height.
 This next part of the lesson is going to deal with the abstract. Teacher should understand
the level of students in the class and proceed accordingly.
 Instruct the students to piece their wedges back into a circle. From the previous activity,
Circumference of a Circle, student should already know what radius, diameter,
circumference and the formula for circumference is. In this step students are going to
label the parallelogram they drew for circle A in terms of radius and circumference.
This may be difficult to grasp, let the students struggle for a few minutes before helping
them. Students may want to measure and put values, but that is not the objective. If the
students are struggling and not understanding, redirect the class’ attention to the teacher
show them. The parallelogram should be labeled as having a base of ½ circumference
( ½ * C) and a height of radius (r). Therefore the area of the circle is ½ * C * r. Students
should not recognize this as the area of a circle formula. NOTE: students may have
trouble understanding why base is ½ circumference. Have students move the wedges
from parallelogram to circle and back so that they can see why it is circumference and
also why it is half. If necessary use only 3 wedges to show half of the circle and that the
outside represents half the circumference.
 Instruct students to take ½ * C * r and use algebra to solve in terms of radius (r). NOTE:
depending on the level of student and class, this will be a checkpoint to see how well
students can figure this out based on the circumference formula that was derived at the
beginning of the lesson. Allow students to struggle at first, but if it proves to confusing
work the problem out with them.
 The area of a circle formula can be derived as follows:
o Area = ½ * Circumference * radius
o Area = ½ * C * r
o Area = ½ * D * π * r Substitute equation Dπ for circumference
o Area = ½ * 2 * π * r * r Substitute 2πr for equation Dπ
2
o Area = ½ * 2 * π * 𝑟 Combine like terms
2
o Area = 𝜋𝑟 Simplify
 Teacher should make sure the students are understanding the process of the formula.
Make sure to take questions and even have students explain how they are understanding
the process. Ensure that the class is comfortable with the process before moving on.
 Teacher will now instruct students to cut out circle B in the same way they did with
circle A
 Instruct students to transform the wedges into a parallelogram. If they have not done so
already, have them rearrange circle A back into a parallelogram again. Have students
draw a diagram of circle B’s parallelogram in the space labeled circle B. Have the
students compare and contrast the parallelograms. (Students should notice more wedges,
but more important the roundness of the bases is starting to get straighter.)
 Teacher will now focus on the bases of the parallelograms. The two parallelograms for
circles A and B are not true parallelograms because they are slightly rounded. Pose the
question to the students “what if the circle was cut into 20 wedges?” Increase the
number to get them thinking. Ultimately teacher should ask if it is possible to cut the
circle into an infinite number of wedges. Students need to understand that as more
wedges are created the straighter the base lines become. Theoretically and infinite
amount of wedges will create a perfectly straight line which allows for the formula of
area of a circle to be A = π𝑟 2 .
 At this point teacher should check for understanding of the activity. Remediate if
necessary.
 Teacher will now instruct students to complete the problems on the back of the
worksheet in the same Rally Coach method used earlier in the lesson. Teacher will
circulate around the room to ensure student understanding and help it necessary. Once
all groups are complete go over answers as a class.