Module 13

Angles Video and Case Studies:

        In Nadia’s case 14, Martha looked at the triangles that she and thought that when you cut it in half you only came up with two angles so there could only be two angles in the triangle.  Also, she could have not been looking at the fact at where the lines meet on the triangle in the three different places is where an angle is actually formed.  Alana was explaining an angle by the slant of a line.  She understood that lines needed to work at a slant somewhat in order to actually form an angle but she was not completely grasping the concept behind an angle.

     

        In Lucy’s case 15 (line 251), Ron suggests that a certain angle “can be both less than 90˚ and more than 90˚": Ron was explaining how angles can be both 90 degrees or over 90 degrees but when he explained it as a “certain angle” can be both less than or greater than 90 degrees that is where he was incorrect.  He understood you can have angles over and under 90 degrees but did not explain how that changes the name of them.  

     

     In Delores' case 13: the students wrote their different ideas of what the angles were:   

Chad: explained small and large angles in the terms of long and short.  He understood that there were different types of angles that varied in size but I would want for him to actually know the names of the angles as well as a way to actually show them versus the way he explained them.

Cindy: explained angles in a different way to me.  The term slanted was one that was okay with me because when looking at angles they are slanted.  I did not so much like the comment about angles going down.  I feel like angles can be formed in moving in either direction.  I would want Cindy to be able to better clarify what she meant when describing angles.

Nancy: I like the way Nancy described angles because she used the actual terms that go along with angles.  She was able to explain that little angles are acute angles and obtuse angles are larger angles.  The only thing I would want Nancy to further explain would be what makes an acute and obtuse angle.

Crissy: did a great job at explaining angles to me.  She had the names as well as the definitions about what angles truly were.  The only thing that she could have done different was to draw a picture. 

Chelsea: I like how Chelsea included pictures and explained right angles.  The thing I wish she had done different was to draw all kinds of angles.  

  In Sandra’s Case 16: Casey says of the pattern blocks, “They all look the same to me.", Casey believes at first that there is only one kind of angle and that is a 90 degree angle.  As he continues to work with his teacher on the angles he realizes that there are actually other types of angles that are within shapes.

I found the Angle's video to be very interesting in listening to the students different explanations of what the believed an angle to actually be.  I liked watching the one little girl draw the pictures when describing her angles and I also liked how she gave the description's of what she was talking about as she was drawing.  The students in this video for the most part to me seemed to really understand angles and I feel like were more advanced when discussing angles than the students that were in the case studies.  In my classroom I want to allow students to draw images along with giving me an explanation.  Seeing the students give me a visual helps me to better understand if they are grasping the concepts or not.  

Annenberg Angles Module:

The usage of the straw as a protractor in part A was very neat to me.  I had never thought about using a straw before but not I would consider using them in my own classroom because it is a cheaper as well as more flexible device that an actual protractor.  I understand it does not give exact measurements but it still gives a general idea.  Using the straw during session A was a neat way to understand the angles.

In part B I did not have much trouble in answering the questions because angles were always something I enjoyed learning about in school and was pretty good at identifying without actual measurements.  I did have to freshen myself up on a few terms such as vortex but once I got all of my definition's in order I was able to figure out the problems.

In part C  I found the Geo-Logo activity to be fun once I figured out how to do my commands.  I could see students actually enjoying that part of the module because students like interactive computer things and I feel like they also learn better that way.