This unit introduces some of the key concepts of position and direction in the context of a series of activities around mazes.
At Level 1 the Position element of Geometry consists of gaining experience in using everyday language to describe position and direction of movement, and interpreting others’ descriptions of position and movement. In this unit students will gain experience using the language of direction, including up, down, left, right, forwards, backwards in the context of mazes. For more activities that involve students giving and following instructions using the language of position and direction you might like to try Directing Me.
Spatial understandings are developed around four types of mathematical questions: direction (which way?), distance (how far?), location (where?), and representation (what objects?). In answering these questions, students need to develop a variety of skills that relate to direction, distance, and position in space.
Teachers should extend young students' knowledge of relative position in space through conversations, demonstrations, and stories. For example, when students act out the story of the three billy goats and illustrate over and under, near and far, and between, they are learning about location, space, and shape. Gradually students should distinguish navigation ideas such as left and right along with the concepts of distance and measurement.
The learning opportunities in this unit can be differentiated by providing or removing support to students and by varying the task requirements. Ways to differentiate include:
The context for this unit can be adapted to suit the interests and experiences of your students by engaging them in identifying the character and destination for each maze. Simple Māori designs can be used for mazes. Images of Native Garden Mazes can be shared with the children to engage them in the unit.
There are many books of mazes and online interactive mazes available. Try to have different resources available in the classroom while you are working on this unit. Early finishers or students who need more challenge could be given the opportunity to work with the other mazes or draw their own.
Many students may have some experience of using mazes, whether it is walking through mazes, or solving pen and paper mazes in puzzle books.
Maze Pairs
In this activity one student has a picture of a maze and the other has a blank grid. There are 4 mazes (two basic and two harder), and two blank grids (one for the basic mazes and one for the harder ones) available as copymasters. You can also easily make more mazes by using a vivid to draw walls on the blank grids.
Put Yourself in the Maze
For this extension to Maze Pairs tell students that they have to imagine that they are actually in the maze themselves, and that the only things they can do are to move forward or to turn left or right. This makes the activity much more challenging, as they now need to keep track of the direction they are facing as well as where in the maze they are. Counters with an arrow drawn on to indicate direction faced would be a useful aid.
The activity proceeds as in Maze Pairs above but both partners should use a counter with an arrow as they plot their route through the maze.
Outdoor maze
In this activity students take the direction giving skills they have used in the classroom outside and onto a larger scale.
Let students draw their own mazes on grid paper, and challenge a friend to first solve it, and then give instructions for how to get through it. Display some examples of a variety of simple mazes as inspiration.
You may need to give some guidance in drawing mazes – ensure that they are solvable, but try to have plenty of false paths and dead ends.
Possibly students could take their mazes to another class and show them how they have learned to give accurate directions through the maze, or take them home to share with whānau.
Dear family and whānau,
This week we are looking at solving mazes and giving directions in maths. Encourage your child to use language such as left, right, over, under, near, far, to describe where objects are in relation to each other. Ask your child to describe the path they would follow to get out of their room if there was a fire. Ask them to describe the route they take to get to school. Using this kind of language helps to develop the maths ideas. Discuss the terms for left, right, over, under, near, far in your own language.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/amazing-mazes at 8:42pm on the 26th February 2024