Quadrilateral Properties TN
For the puzzle section of this activity the teacher will need to have printed, cut out, and preferably (since then the pieces can be re-used from year to year), laminated the below jigsaw of Kadinsky's 'Colour Studies'.
What to Expect?
The quadrilaterals file has two template pages, one with the triangles drawn over the top of the quadrilaterals and the second without. I always give students the second page first, as I find this generates greater excitement and curiosity. I find the first page useful to have at hand to help guide students who may be struggling, or to get a whole class started by showing a quick glimpse of it using a projector or interactive whiteboard. Three of the pieces need to be reflected for the puzzle to fit neatly into the quadrilaterals.
Paper and PowerPoint versions of the classifying triangles and quadrilaterals and the triangle investigation are provided to allow teachers the choice of media based on the resources available to them and what they think would be best for their class. It is important students copy and paste the connectors and textboxes already prepared for them on the second slide if they opt for using the powerpoint. If students try and draw their own lines and textboxes, this can distract from valuable mathematical activity time. I know I wasn’t very neat at school and often had to rub out, redraw etc. and after all that the finished article didn’t look very good. Personally, I prefer doing this activity on PowerPoint, I enjoy it, whereas I don’t enjoy the activity on paper because the final outcome doesn’t seem worth the time. The same can apply to special needs children as well as messy children! I also like using the PowerPoints sometimes because it saves cutting out and preparation time (printing off the sheets for the class) and is eco-friendly. However, the classifying of the quadrilaterals activity does usually extend to two slides which, if considering display, is less advantageous than a single, A3 drawn flowchart. Why not tell the class at the start that there will be a class vote on whose flowchart is the most eye-catching - the winner to be put on display at the end of the lesson.
I laminated the above "Quadrilateral Art Jigsaw" and used it as a quick five minute starter with an older group. This way, I got the students to do the cutting out and the collating of each set in a plastic wallet (which only took them a minute or two). The activity was then ready for the younger group to work on for a longer period of time and served as a fun starter for the older students.
For the classifying and triangle investigation, PowerPoint or paper can be used (see "What to Expect?" section above).
To do all the activities in full with a group of 12 year olds, generally takes the full two hours. It's possible to use one or other activity only, in an hour, and leave the other for a different group. As an extension, I ask students to find a piece of art or picture on the web to create their own jigsaw. By clicking on the image and selecting 'size' from the Formatting menu, students can change the size to 20.14cm long and 15.7cm wide so that it fits perfectly into the jigsaw template above. They can then cut out and try each others jigsaws. This communicates the fact that the picture shouldn't make a difference to the difficulty level, provided they use their quadrilaterals knowledge. A further challenge is to ask students to try to make their own jigsaw template, with the condition that the pieces can be assembled into quadrilaterals.