This unit connects with other mathematics, with other disciplines, and with work of the real world.  Determining surface area, set in the context of body surface area, is connected to solving problems by using ratios and proportions.  For example, the following problems could be addressed as an extension/connection of the work completed. 

Example 1 – If a drug is to be administered at 250 mg per meter squared of body surface area, how much of the drug should be prescribed for a patient whose body surface area is 0.57 m² ?Example 2 – Convert 35 pounds to kilograms. 

Example 1 – How many kilograms is 12 lbs 10 oz?

Example 2 – A nurse is to give a drug at the rate of 3 mg per kilogram to a child weighing 82 lb.  The bottle of elixir contains 880mg/100mL of the drug.  How many milliliters of the elixir should he give?

This unit would also provide an opportunity to connect to the use of charts, tables, and graphs to see relationships among quantities.  A student might be given the height, weight, and body surface area of twenty people.  Organizing the data and looking for trends would be a rich activity.

          The body surface area unit has some interesting connections to science.  In addition to those topics that we might classify both as science and mathematics, like taking measurements and conversions of units, the connections abound with science regarding such things as the chemistry of drugs and the biology of disease.

          Connections could be made to social studies setting via the history of the apothecary, the medicine men of Indian lore, or the many uses and abuses of prescription drugs.  When our problem solving is set in an authentic context it is easy to imagine the numerous related topics in many different subject disciplines .