5 Summary of Week 6

In Week 6 you read how the study of geometry can be very intuitive, drawing on learners’ experience of the lived in world and as such it is a very practical area of mathematics. On the other hand teachers and their learners work with diagrams and physical objects which are themselves representations of abstract geometrical objects. There is a tension between the specific physical representation which can be seen and touched and the abstract concept in geometry (e.g. the triangle on paper represents a whole set of all possible triangles in the abstract).

You should now be able to:

• understand that geometrical shapes have properties and that their definitions draw on these properties
• use varied activities to support the exploration of geometric shapes, both 2D and 3D
• think about how to set up the classroom to facilitate problem solving activities in geometry, including use of practical resources.

Next week you will learn about measures, how these were developed through history, and how to address the appropriate use of measures within mathematics lessons.

You can now go to Week 7