The shape of things to come…
What’s the point of Geometry, Year 5 asked? Well, just think of all the man-made wonders of the world. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, for example. Or the Eiffel Tower.
And what about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which is actually called Alnwick Castle in real life, but let’s not quibble! The creative geniuses who thought up these wonders, all used geometry to make their creative thinking come to life. Without geometry, they would have remained ideas and dreams floating around inside their heads.
And think about the planet we live on, provoked their teachers. It’s situated in a universe full of interesting stars and planets; all of them are different shapes and sizes. Put simply, they explained, geometry is a great way to discover patterns, areas, volumes, lengths and angles, and it’s a great way to better understand the world around us.
Convinced it was worth exploring, Year 5 rolled up their sleeves and got to grips with geometry, starting with two-dimensional shapes and angles. They then used their research skills and computational thinking to work out how to program Spheros, carefully coding them to create different shapes and trace different-sized angles. In doing so, Year 5 transformed their learning into a highly interactive experience.
The Year 5 students unpacked what was what meant by ‘computational thinking’. Put simply, computers don’t make assumptions like humans do. So, when coding, we need to think carefully about what sort of instructions the computer needs to know in order to function. This means giving them precise and relevant instructions tailored to the task at hand.
Before they started to code, students explored different forms of geometry by investigating the properties of two-dimensional shapes. They looked at circles, triangles, squares, and rectangles, and they looked at polygons: pentagons, heptagons and octagons. Then they talked angles: acute, right, obtuse, straight and reflex. And they talked different triangles: isosceles, equilateral, scalene and right angled. Finally, they put all their new-found knowledge to the test by drawing two-dimensional shapes and angles using their iPads.
It was then time to program their Spheros. However, Year 5 discovered that nothing in life is as simple as it may initially appear. In order to succeed, they had to devise a list of instructions and look for patterns, setting out the steps and rules for their Spheros to follow in order for it to weave its magic and trace the perfect equilateral triangle.
Year 5 found they needed all their self-management skills of perseverance and resilience in order to persist with their task, which actually proved to be quite tricky. Although they experienced challenges and setbacks, they succeeded in coding their Spheros to trace out different shapes and angles.
Not only was this a great visual task that captured the transdisciplinary nature of mathematics, art, science and technology, it also tested the students’ critical thinking, and their analytical and risk-taking skills, forcing them to break down a complex problem into small, manageable chunks.
Inquiry-based learning, exploring angles, geometry, measurement, space, art and coding…all part of a day’s work for our Year 5 students!