4 Summary

This unit has used ideas about teaching triangles to focus on three important issues:

• The need to help students to be able to talk about their mathematical ideas. Students need to be able to express their ideas if they are to fully understand them and use them beyond the immediate context where they are learned. Because thinking requires language, students that are helped to use specific mathematical vocabulary and phraseology themselves are at an advantage when asked to think.
• The role of feedback to help students engage more with their learning and feel more motivated.
• Cooperative learning, where students support each other effectively in their learning. This is especially useful when teaching large classes.

Pause for thought Identify three ideas that you have used in this unit that would work when teaching other topics. Make a note now of two topics you have to teach soon where those ideas can be used with some small adjustments.