Students need more than a solid name. They need to connect the object, its faces, its edges and the way a flat net can fold into the solid.
The Daily Maths Review 3D solids tool gives teachers a shared workspace with common prisms, pyramids, a cube and a cylinder, plus split solid and net views, fold controls, labels, rotation, auto-spin, dimensions and feature facts.
Start with the solid and its net together
Use split view first so students can see the solid and the matching net at the same time. Fold the net slowly and ask students which face is moving.
- Start with a cube when students are new to nets.
- Compare rectangular prisms and triangular prisms when the focus is prism structure.
- Switch to a square pyramid or triangular pyramid to discuss the apex and side faces.
- Use the cylinder to talk about circular faces and the curved face.
Use labels and feature facts deliberately
Labels help when students are learning vocabulary, but turning labels off makes a useful prediction task. The face, edge and vertex facts give the class something to verify on the model.
Show a triangular prism in split view, turn labels off, ask students to count faces, edges and vertices, then fold the net and check the feature facts.
Connect modelling to practice
After modelling a solid and its net, move students into the 3D objects and nets practice app for short questions on names, features and matching nets.