When Maeroa Intermediate School received funding from the Waikato Regional Council for their gully restoration project, it wasn’t just a chance to upgrade their native plant nursery — it was an opportunity to bring maths to life in a real-world context.
Since beginning their gully restoration in 2020, Maeroa students have grown thousands of eco-sourced native plants. Their nursery has been productive, but its location in an old set of abandoned cricket nets — with uneven pavers and remnants of ivy — meant it was far from ideal. To make the space safer and more functional, the school planned to pour a new concrete pad.
Working out the volume of concrete required
Lead teacher Julie Yeoman saw this as a perfect opportunity to teach measurement and geometry in a hands-on way. The site — a rectangular area with a small existing concrete slab and surrounding loose pavers — was ideal for a practical maths lesson.
Julie split her class, inviting students keen to get hands-on to come outside and calculate the materials needed. Armed with metre rulers, pencils, and paper, students set out to measure the area and work out the volume of concrete required.
Outside, the class discussed what a concrete pad is, how thick it needs to be, why soil needs to be removed beforehand, and the purpose of boxing. Before measuring, students made predictions about the dimensions and depth of the pad. They took turns carefully measuring the length and width of the space—learning how to read a metre ruler correctly as part of the process.
After calculating the total area, students faced another challenge: subtracting the area of the existing concrete cricket pitch. With Julie’s guidance, they checked and corrected their calculations before moving on to the final step — calculating volume by multiplying the area by the depth of the concrete: 0.1 metres (or 10 cm).
Careful measurements of the area
Double checking measurements for accuracy
To bring the lesson full circle, students began digging out the topsoil to a depth of 10 cm, trying to keep the surface as level as possible. The activity sparked enthusiasm.
When asked what they enjoyed, students said:
“I like being outside”
“I like helping people”
“I like experiencing maths in new ways”
and even, “Finding buried treasure when we dig!”
(A fair bit of ‘treasure’ has been unearthed in the gully over the years!)
Bringing maths to life in a real-world context
Applying classroom learning to the real world
“The maths practice books are cool, but doing it on paper, with a ruler, outside — that’s real maths. It lets students use what they’ve learned in class and apply it in the real world.” – Lead teacher Julie’s reflection
The concrete truck is scheduled to arrive during a Saturday gully working bee, when students and their families will come together to pour the slab — bringing their learning to life, one wheelbarrow at a time.
Print