The purpose of this activity is to engage students in thinking about the features of a 2D shape.
The 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.
We can use two short sticks and two long sticks to build a rectangle.
What other shapes can we make from these four sticks? Give each of your shapes a name.
Note to teacher: This activity requires materials for manipulation. The sticks could be actual sticks or just strips of paper.
The following prompts illustrate how this activity can be structured around the phases of the Mathematics Investigation Cycle.
Introduce the problem. Allow ākonga time to read it and discuss in pairs or small groups.
Discuss ideas about how to solve the problem. Emphasise that for now you want ākonga to say how they would solve the problem, not to actually solve it.
Allow ākonga time to work through their strategy, and find a solution to the problem.
Allow ākonga 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 uses materials to create different polygons and describes the polygons using features like ‘pointiness’ and “straightness.’
Click on the image to enlarge it. Click again to close.
The student creates different polygons and describes the polygons using features and properties, such as ‘falling over’ and intersection “crossing over’ of sides. They have names for some simple polygons.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/sticky-shapes at 8:49pm on the 26th February 2024