The arquitecture and the geometry

Throughout history, there have been different cultures. These cultures are distinguished by having characteristics of each one of them. Every culture has a distinctive art and a arquitecture. We can see the legacy left to us by the Muslim architecture in Spain, such as the Mosque of Cordoba, a clear example of Muslim architecture that still remains in Andalusia.

(Mosque of Cordoba)

 There are many constructions that have Muslim origin and remain in today's world, as for example, the “Giralda” of Seville and Granada's Alhambra. With these constructions, we see that the importance of the geometry is not limited to the field of education, it goes far beyond. By this, when you teach has to show this, that the geometry is not limited to the figures that we study in school, but it serve and it has served much throughout history, and that thanks to the existence of the geometry, today we can see these impressive and complex constructions such as we have seen in the images.

(Mosque of Cordoba)

 (Alhambra, Granada)

With this, I would also like to explain that the architecture has a great relationship with the geometry, as the constructions, on numerous occasions, are based on geometric figures. In addition, we can also find mosaics and other forms they call a lot of attention.

Do you think that Geometry is important in our live? 

Why?

We discovered the geometry in the street

One of the contents within the block of geometry that can be found in the Education Act currently in force in Spain (LOMCE) is: "4.2. Identificación de formas planas y espaciales en objetos y espacios cotidianos.”. This can be developed thanks to the new technologies with interactive activities. However, students can learn and better assimilate these concepts if you come and discover in your everyday life.

A very interesting activity, which can be done in any course of Primary Education, is a didactic output (a tour). This output is very easy to carry out, because it consists in walking around the school, and the children have to go pointing to the geometrical figures that look, indicating its shape. As an example, you can say that the license plate of a car is a rectangle, the wheel is a circle, or a traffic signal is a triangle.

What do you think about it?

Make a craft!

Normally, students learn more when they build their own learning that when they only read a textbook in class. For this reason, in a Primary Education classroom can be a good idea to build crafts from which students learn geometry. In this case, they may learn parts and construction of plane figures such as triangle, square, rectangle, rhombus, regular polygons, etc. To do this activity you only need:

-Wooden Sticks

- Velcro

-Glue

To do so, we can follow the instructions in the following video:

Once students have made the craft, teacher can do different activities in which students have to build the plane figure that teacher has said. In addition, students can learn about the parts of the plane figures as sides and vertices. 

This is a fun and motivating activity in which students are going to learn.

New Tecnologies and Geometry

Today, thanks to new technologies, we have many resources to work the geometry, and these resources also we can use in the classroom of primary education. Then I'm going to explain 3 different web pages in which students, while they learn or remember content, are playing and having fun:

• Http://www.mundoprimaria.com/juegos-matematicas/ In this web page we can find different activities within mathematics, and differentiated by course. With this, the students can do different activities that exist within the block of geometry.

• Https://sites.google.com/a/genmagic.net/pasapalabras-genmagic/areas/matematicas/geometria-1 In this web page, students will be able to play the game of "PASAPALABRA" but using words and vocabulary related to the geometry. This is a game that can also be created by the teacher to play in the classroom with students as a final activity of the unit, which is fun and motivating for students.

• Http://genmagic.net/repositorio/displayimage.php?pos=-349 This page is for students of 5º and 6º of Primary Education, since they are activities more difficult. In this web page offers exercises on the perimeter of different shapes, and students have to calculate it.

I think that these pages are interesting resources which we, as a teacher, can use in Primary Education. Also, student can learn and develop the digital competence, that is very important nowadays. 

Logical Blocks

The Logical Blocks are an easy handling material created by William Hull in the mid-20th century, but it was Zoltan Dienes who used it in Canada and Australia to work logical processes in the learning of mathematics.

It is formed by 48 pieces: 12 triangles, 12 squares, 12 12 circles and rectangles. The figures may have two different sizes (large or small). In addition, these subgroups are divided according to their thickness, may be thick and thin pieces. Finally, in each subgroup will meet the painted parts of the three primary colours (yellow, blue and red). So, in the logical blocks, each piece is defined by four different variables: size, shape, thickness and colour.

This material is recommended to develop the basic skills of mathematical thinking, such as observation, comparison, classification, and seriation.

We, as a teacher, can use it in activities in which students have to classify objects according to one or several criteria or compare elements in order to establish similarities and differences. 

Video about the angle

In this video, students are going to learn the concept of angle, degrees of different types of angles, and other concepts. This video is very interesting because it is simple, but it can attract attention the students. Also, the video show a review about all concepts, and it is very important because in this way, students can remember the knowledge that they have learned during the video.

I think that this video could be very interesting because I can show my students (1º Primary School) the angles and the types of angles in a different way, and I can use the new technologies. Then, I can ask students some question as:

-What have you learn?

-What is an angle?

-How you can measure an angle?

Geoplano

Según la definición dada en la asignatura de Didáctica de la Geometría de la Universidad de Málaga, los geoplanos son tableros planos rígidos en los que se dispone una trama de clavos o pivotes que sobresalen y que se encuentran dispuestos a una distancia fija entre ellos y/o formando una distribución regular. Fue creado por el matemático egipcio Caleb Gattegno sobre 1960, ya que intentaba encontrar un método para poder enseñar la geometría de una forma más didáctica. Un ejemplo de geoplano puede ser el siguiente:

Este puede ser un recurso muy interesante para trabajar en un aula de primaria el campo de la geometría, ya que de esta forma los alumnos podrán ver conceptos geométricos a la misma vez que lo manipulan y crean con sus propias manos. Con esto se intenta conseguir un aprendizaje significativo en el alumno donde tenga un rol activo.

Hay diferentes tipos de geoplanos. Podemos destacar los siguientes:

1. Cuadrado: de trama cuadrada, y los más comunes son los de 25 puntos.

2. Circular: Es una colección de puntos de una circunferencia los cuales se encuentran a la misma distancia. Permite construir polígonos regulares de diferentes lados. 

3. Triangular: De trama triangular. Los puntos están situados en los vértices de triángulos equiláteros.

En la etapa de Educación Primaria puede ser interesante que los alumnos fabriquen su propio geoplano. Esto se puede hacer de una forma sencilla. Un ejemplo es utilizar como base un cartón y poner chinchetas sobre este. 

How to work figures 3D in the classroom?

To study the 3D figures in Primary Education there are many activities, but then I'm going to explain two different activities in which we can work figures 3D:

Activity 1:

We need to do this activity very simple material such as toothpicks and clay. Students will be joining the toothpicks with the clay, which will be the vertexes. An example of this we can see in the image below:

Depending on the age of the students, the teacher can do before an example for children to see how it is done.

Activity 2:

In this activity, children will need scissors and glue, and the tabs that teacher gives them. From these templates, students cut and can make, for example, a triangular pyramid.

This is a very simple activity in which students can learn how to create a figure 3D, in addition they will be able to see the faces that form the figure easer.

With this activity, student will learn how to create a lot of type 3D figure. 

Tangram

The Tangram is a Chinese very ancient game, which consists in forming silhouettes of figures with the seven pieces given without putting them on top of each other. The 7 pieces, called "Tans", are: 5 triangles of different shape, a square and a parallelogram or rhomboid shape. From these figures, the students have to form different shapes. This game is currently used both as a hobby and as a support in the classroom.

With this resource, students can work management and knowledge of the mathematical elements, such as for example, the different types of geometric elements. In addition, we also put into practice reasoning processes for the resolution of problems.

The level of difficulty of this activity can vary. For younger students, you will be given templates where students may see the shapes of the geometric figures that they should use to make the image, while older, teacher can give students only the image so that they have to guess how it is formed. An example of this we can see in the following images:

Easier:

More difficult:

Presentation

Good day, Bloggers!

This blog is created by Noelia Real. Here is my space where I can write about topics that are, in my point of view, important and interesting in relation to the geometry and mathematics. Some of these issues may be programs with which we can work the geometry, how to work the geometry in a classroom with students, what to see, depending on the age, or other interesting topics that you see in the subject, etc. With this, I take leave until my next entry.

A greeting!