The purpose of this activity is to engage students in solving a problem involving sorting polygons by their spatial features.
This activity assumes the students have experience in the following areas:
The problem is sufficiently open ended to allow the students freedom of choice in their approach. It may be scaffolded with guidance that leads to a solution, and/or the students might be given the opportunity to solve the problem independently.
The example responses at the end of the resource give an indication of the kind of response to expect from students who approach the problem in particular ways.
Stella’s class is learning about polygons.
On the classroom wall is the flag design, the Seven Stars of Matariki.
Stella thought she might be able to make polygon pictures by drawing lines from one star to another.
If each star on the flag can be used for only one vertex (corner), but not all the stars need to be used, what are the different types of polygons that Stella could make?
The following prompts illustrate how this activity can be structured around the phases of the Mathematics Investigation Cycle.
Introduce the problem. Allow students time to read it and discuss in pairs or small groups.
Discuss ideas about how to solve the problem. Emphasise that, in the planning phase, you want students to say how they would solve the problem, not to actually solve it.
Allow students time to work through their strategy and find a solution to the problem.
Allow students time to check their answers and then either have them pair share with other groups or ask for volunteers to share their solution with the class.
The student draws many possible polygons, names them using mathematical terms, and explores the limits of shapes that can be formed.
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student creates two different polygons by recognising that the number of sides equals the number of vertices (corners).
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/seven-stars-matariki at 8:50pm on the 26th February 2024