Tasks that support the development of geometric reasoning at KS3
Tasks that support the development of geometric reasoning at KS3
Students at Key Stage 3 (ie aged 11-14) in English schools are expected to learn the definitions of the properties of triangles, quadrilaterals and other polygons and to be able to use these definitions to solve problems (including being able to explain and justify their solutions). This paper focuses on a pair of Year 8 students (aged 12-13) working on a task using dynamic geomtry software. In the research, the children investigated triangles and quadrilaterals by dragging two lines within a shape (ie the diagonals of a quadrilateral, or base and height of a triangle) and noting the position and orientation of the lines which gave rise to specific shapes. Following this, the students were asked to use what they had found in order to construct specific triangles and quadrilaterals when starting with a blank screen. While the research is currently ongoing, and is using a design research methodology, the evidence to date is that the task has the potential to scaffold students’ thinking around the properties of 2D shapes and hence support the development of geometric reasoning.
dynamic geometry, task, design based research, pedagogy, curriculum, teaching, learning, geometry, mathematics, geometric, geometrical, deductive reasoning, proof, proving, school, national curriculum, classroom, deduction, dgs, dge, gsp, sketchpad, spatial, argumentation, BSRLM
103-108
Forsythe, Sue
e5b1f3d1-b693-455f-ba2a-ec3a67c84405
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
November 2009
Forsythe, Sue
e5b1f3d1-b693-455f-ba2a-ec3a67c84405
Jones, Keith
ea790452-883e-419b-87c1-cffad17f868f
Forsythe, Sue and Jones, Keith
(2009)
Tasks that support the development of geometric reasoning at KS3.
Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics, 29 (3), .
Abstract
Students at Key Stage 3 (ie aged 11-14) in English schools are expected to learn the definitions of the properties of triangles, quadrilaterals and other polygons and to be able to use these definitions to solve problems (including being able to explain and justify their solutions). This paper focuses on a pair of Year 8 students (aged 12-13) working on a task using dynamic geomtry software. In the research, the children investigated triangles and quadrilaterals by dragging two lines within a shape (ie the diagonals of a quadrilateral, or base and height of a triangle) and noting the position and orientation of the lines which gave rise to specific shapes. Following this, the students were asked to use what they had found in order to construct specific triangles and quadrilaterals when starting with a blank screen. While the research is currently ongoing, and is using a design research methodology, the evidence to date is that the task has the potential to scaffold students’ thinking around the properties of 2D shapes and hence support the development of geometric reasoning.
Text
Forsythe&Jones_tasks_support_geometric_reasoning_2009.pdf
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More information
Published date: November 2009
Keywords:
dynamic geometry, task, design based research, pedagogy, curriculum, teaching, learning, geometry, mathematics, geometric, geometrical, deductive reasoning, proof, proving, school, national curriculum, classroom, deduction, dgs, dge, gsp, sketchpad, spatial, argumentation, BSRLM
Organisations:
Mathematics, Science & Health Education
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 72236
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/72236
ISSN: 1463-6840
PURE UUID: 2a3807e7-51d7-45a9-90c5-01fbd145b3b4
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Date deposited: 02 Feb 2010
Last modified: 13 Mar 2024 21:22
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Author:
Sue Forsythe
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