Creating Shapes with Geoboards: Teacher Notes

Critical and Creative Thinking — Students have to be able to identify the problems and generate creative original designs based on some instructions.

Students will explore making two-dimensional shapes using the terms point, and line(side)
Students will be able to transfer their two-dimensional shapes into drawings.
Students will recognize, create, and draw points and sides.

Procedure:
Student’s Role:

Students will each get a geoboard. There will be instructions on the activity card that if the elastics are not used properly and only on the geoboards then the geoboards and elastics will be taken away. Students will make designs of shapes using the specified instructions below. When a student makes a shape they show their group so the others get ideas. They record the designs they like the best on the dot paper.

Some designs to make: (After making a few of the designs they can explore the other shapes they can make)

Make one point shapes

Make two point shapes

Make three point shapes

Make four point shapes

Make a shape with two sides, three sides, four sides, six sides

Make a shape with two points in the middle of it, three points in the middle

Students put the dot paper in their portfolios for the teacher to assess.

Teacher’s Role:

Teacher circulates to see if students on task, are trying the designs, and recording them. Teacher does the performance assessment for this activity hitting a few students.
Adaptation(s)/Extension(s):

Students could be free to create any shape they wanted and record them on the dot paper.
They could come up with names for the shapes.

Resources:
Addison-Wesley. Quest 2000: Exploring Mathematics Series, Grade Two and Three. Canada: Addison-Wesley Publishers Limited.
Assessment/Evaluation:

Performance Assessment — Teacher evaluates whether student is understanding problem asked of him or her, whether they try it, and the creativity. Refer to performance assessment form to go along with activity.
Portfolio — Evaluate dot paper to see how much was done and if they were consistent with instructions.

Reflection:

I also tried this activity in during my geometry unit in my pre-internship. This activity went extremely well. The first thing I did was tell the students about the elastics and how they were suppose to be used before I handed them out. I gave them the choice of doing the activity properly or not doing it. I never had one problem with the elastics. The students were engaged in the activity and never had time to think about it.

I observed some students making the shapes from the instructions I gave. They came up with some exciting shapes to fit the criteria. Every time they came up with a shape they wanted to be able to show everyone their accomplishment. When they showed it off everyone would say something like "cool". I could see this made the students feel good.

The students knew what a point and side where because they were making the shapes according to the instructions I gave them. One student told me he finally figured out what a point and edge where. He said the peg is the point and the elastic was the edge. He said he understood now and went off to make the shapes. I think a combination of him seeing what others were doing and seeing the manipulatives that clearly visualize what a point and line are were a key to his understanding. He is obviously a visual learner.

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