This is a hands-on activity I adapted from www.mathsolutions.com. It allows students to explore surface area of a sphere using an orange and it's peel. Students will develop their own formula for the surface area of a sphere after they have completed this activity.
Hands-on activites are a great way for students to learn. It allows for students to work in groups rather than lectures and practice. Students can explore through manipulatives in order to develop new ways of learning or completing a problem or developing a formula. Hands-on activities can be used for many topics throughout mathematics. One benefit of doing a hands-on activity is that students remember the process they completed to arrive at their solution or formula and are more likely to remember the process than if it was just presented to them by the teacher.