TI-AIE: Using embodiment, manipulatives and real-life examples: teaching about angles

What this unit is about

It would be difficult to envisage our lives without angles. Angles are around us everywhere we look. There are angles in houses, roofs, chairs, desks and beds, in mountains and waves. There is talk about angles from an early age, in work and play.

In school mathematics, students learn about angles in a formal context from elementary school onwards. It is one of the basic concepts in trigonometry, which students will encounter in later years.

Working with students on angles provides an opportunity to build on their existing and intuitive knowledge and also to link what happens and can be observed in real life with the world of the mathematics classroom.

Unfortunately students often do not experience the richness, connections and the creativity that working on angles allows. Instead, they often perceive such work as another memory exercise, with vocabulary to learn and forget.

This unit shows you how to work on angles with your students in a playful and creative way, using intuitive knowledge and mental thinking powers which all students have. The activities ask you to take your students outdoors and to use manipulatives and embodiment techniques to develop visual images.

What you can learn in this unit