eTwinning Project

“Deep to the roots of the world’s fairytales…”

Activity 4

“What is the shape of the cells in the hive combs???”

Eleftheria suggested hive comb cells are octagons. It was such my surprise when she wrote the word “STOP” in it. She remembered

that Stop traffic sign in the streets has the same shape.

Natalia suggested hive comb cells are circles.

Lamprini suggested hive comb cells are squares.

I suggested Antonis to try Hexagon.

They all started drawing their shapes in a piece of paper.

But it seems they needed some more help.

But it seems they needed some more help.

Computer came to our classroom to help us decide…since we had already started arguing. Page is going to be our hive comb

Let’s fill our hive comb with circular cells. Insert-> Circle

Let’s make our cell yellow.

And the lines should be orange.

It is ready. Now we must copy it- Control+C

And paste it- Control+V

Now we are filling the hive comb with Curricular cells.

Hopefully somebody says that there is a lot of space we don’t use.

we all agree that in our room it is better to use every centimeter rather than having

area underutilized.

The next suggestion is octagon: Insert -> octagon

The cell should be yellow.

And the lines orange

Now we should fill the hive comb with octagon cells. Copy- Paste.

We already know that it isn’t the correct answer.

So we don’t want to waste our time…

There are too many gaps between the cells and bees prefer to use every single piece of the hive comb.

Let’s try with squares now- Insert -> Square

But we want our hive comb cells to be yellow.

With orange lines.

Now we should copy it and paste it.

Filling the hive comb with square cells. It seems pretty good. There is no underutilized space. We

think this is the correct answer.

Last but not least…we must try hexagon!

Insert -> hexagon

We want the cells to be yellow.

With orange lines.

Copy- paste. To fill in the hive comb with cells.

Fill in the hive com with hexagons.

It seems to be good too. There is no empty space.

So we must choose between squares and hexagons.

Let’s make a square.

With yellow color inside and orange lines.

Now let’s make a hexagon.

Here it is.

Both shapes are similar.

Let’s find the squares perimeter.

Squares perimeter 32 cm

Let’s see hexagon’s perimeter

Hexagon’s perimeter is 24 cm

But what is a cells’ perimeter made from?It is made from wax. The bigger the perimeter is, the more wax the bee needs…

Now let’s count how much honey bees can put in the cells.

In square cells we can put 64 units of honey, whereas in hexagons 192 units of honey

After finishing the day, I was not sure my students had understood

how to calculate the hexagon’s area. We used a type that they are too young to understood. So the

next day I came back with a different teaching process!

How many straws do we need to cover this square around?

How many straws do we need to cover this hexagon around?

When do we need more straws? For the square or for the

hexagon??? How can we compare them? Their size is not same…

Let’s make two lines: One from the straws we used for the square, another for the straws we used for the hexagon. Which one is longer?

But they are exactly the same. Meaning that both shapes have

same perimeter. But which shape covers the biggest area?

Fill the square with plasticine.

Fill the plasticine with little pieces of straw.

Let’s not waste time filling all the plasticine with straws. It is obvious we will need 22 lines of straws. Each line

will have 23 straws.

Stamatis is older, so he can do calculation.

But Evi is younger, so she chooses to do addition. Eleftheria helps her not to forget any line of straws.

We need 506 straws to fill all the square.

Now we should calculate the hexagon’s perimeter.

We easily saw that hexagon is consisted by 6 smaller triangles. So if we find how many straws can fit in one

triangle we can easily calculate ifor the whole hexagon.

Filling the hexagon with straws.

Filling the hexagon with straws.

100 straws for each triangle. Totally 600 straws.

Conclusion:Bees build their hive comb cells in

hexagon shape because1. hexagon’s perimeter is smaller than squares. The cells’ perimeter is made with wax. So in hexagon bees spend

less wax to build it.Even if hexagon and square have the same perimeter….

2. Hexagon’s area is bigger than square’s. So in hexagon bees can store more honey…

and spend less wax to build it.