From the abstract: "We tested the hypothesis that certain aspects of nonperceptible Euclidian geometry map onto intuitions of space that are present in all humans, even in the absence of formal mathematical education. Our tests probed intuitions of points, lines, and surfaces in participants from an indigene group in the Amazon, the Mundurucu, as well as adults and age-matched children controls from the United States and France and younger US children without education in geometry. The responses of Mundurucu adults and children converged with that of mathematically educated adults and children and revealed an intuitive understanding of essential properties of Euclidean geometry." (Full text requires subscription.
Bring Geometry to Life with Google SketchUp
Welcome to 3DVinci's Math Forum Page!
Google SketchUp is a free, fun, easy-to-use 3D modeling application.
Originally created for architects and designers, SketchUp is also a great
tool for teaching geometry.
The resources on this page will help you bring SketchUp into your classroom
and show you some wonderful projects in 2D and 3D geometry.
Abstract: "Human adults from diverse cultures share intuitions about the points, lines, and figures of Euclidean geometry. Do children develop these intuitions by drawing on phylogenetically ancient and developmentally precocious geometric representations that guide their navigation and their analysis of object shape? In what way might these early-arising representations support later-developing Euclidean intuitions? To approach these questions, we investigated the relations among young children's use of geometry in tasks assessing: navigation; visual form analysis; and the interpretation of symbolic, purely geometric maps. Children's navigation depended on the distance and directional relations of the surface layout and predicted their use of a symbolic map with targets designated by surface distances. In contrast, children's analysis of visual forms depended on the size-invariant shape relations of objects and predicted their use of the same map but with targets designated by corner angles. Even though the two map tasks used identical instructions and map displays, children's performance on these tasks showed no evidence of integrated representations of distance and angle. Instead, young children flexibly recruited geometric representations of either navigable layouts or objects to interpret the same spatial symbols. These findings reveal a link between the early-arising geometric representations that humans share with diverse animals and the flexible geometric intuitions that give rise to human knowledge at its highest reaches. Although young children do not appear to integrate core geometric representations, children's use of the abstract geometry in spatial symbols such as maps may provide the earliest clues to the later construction of Euclidean geometry. "
"This is an exploration of the hypothesis that unique belief systems depend for their coherence on distinctive patterns typically embodied in geometrical symbols in two dimensions. On the basis of that assumption, the case tentatively explored here is that of the "incommensurability" of the 5-fold Star of Islam and the 6-fold Star of David of Judaism -- both symbols appearing on flags of the nations having those distinct faiths. ... The approach taken here explores the possibility that the "pieces" only fit together on a three-dimensional surface, namely a sphere. It is the spherical geometry that then merits consideration, together with the challenge of how to get from any "mis-fitting" two-dimensional layout to a three-dimensional form. Of course, two-dimensional layouts are far more readily comprehensible. Hence the focus on them. However the three-dimensional layout has the potential of rendering comprehensible a far more elegant layout which may well exemplify intuitions characteristic of the faiths so dramatically opposed.
The approach follows from various earlier explorations of the potential of mathematics to offer a new perspectives on these issues" ....
Abstract: "The principal aim of this study is to find the weaknesses of secondary school students at geometry questions of measures ,
angles and shapes , transformations and construction and 3-D shapes. The year 7 curriculum contains 4 geometry topics out
of 17 mathematics topics. In addition to this , this study aims to find out the mistakes, 28 , 7th grade students made in the last
4 exams including two midterms and two final exams.To collect data, students were tested on two midterms and two final
exams using open-ended questions on geometry to analyze their problem solving skills and to test how much they acquired
during the year.Frequency tables were used in data analysis.To fulfill this aim in the first midterm exam the subject measures
were tested.In the first final exam which followed the first midterm exam in addition to measures and angles shapes skills
were also tested. Following these tests , in the second midterm we tested the students on transformation and construction. A
descriptive methodology and student interview were used in the study to analyze and interpret the results. The results from
this study revealed that 7th grade secondary school students have a number of misconceptions, lack of background
knowledge, reasoning and basic operation mistakes at the topics mentioned above."
This slide show demonstrates some techniques that would be suitable for an experimental geometry project. The basic shapes of square and circle are explored using open source Geogebra and Dr Geo geometry software. The examples includes exercises in geometric construction, novel solutions and recursive (spiral) constructions. This is mathematics that can be done without algebra. There is some algebra on slide 18, to calculate the radius and area of a semicircle inscribed in a square.
From the abstract: "The purpose of this study was to find out from current high school math teachers, of geometry specifically, what their views of technology are. The goal of the study was to ask these teachers which technologies they use and whether they believe technology has beneficial effects on student learning. Data was collected for the survey by asking teachers to take brief electronic surveys and conduct in-person interviews. All questions in both the survey and interviews were focused on the effects of technology that they see in their classrooms. The scope of the participants was restricted to Columbus, Ohio, and thus, generalizations for any classroom or any school building cannot be made. However, this study did find a consensus among the participants as to which technologies they felt were the most beneficial in their classrooms, as well as those that might not be needed at all in a classroom. The three technologies that these teachers claimed to be the most beneficial were SMART boards, TI-nspire calculators and Geometer's Sketchpad/GeoGebra. Again, this study cannot make solid conclusions, but it is safe to say that this study gives insight into teachers' viewpoints, which, in a sense, are more important than those of outside researchers. The teachers agreed on a few technologies that are the most beneficial and thus future studies should focus on really studying the effects of these technologies as well as focus on getting a wider range of teachers' opinions on this topic."
A simple geometry whiteboard flash resource with a virtual ruler, protractor and more. Show your class how to measure lines and angles.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths
Experience Geometry on your desktop and on the web
Easily create startling geometric constructions! Starting from simple triangle relations, continuing with trigonometric theorems up to fractals and transformation groups Cinderella lets you create and manipulate visualizations in an intuitive, yet powerful way. Using Java® technologies, constructions are seamlessly exported to the WWW. And even better: you can get this for free!
This great maths site has an amazing collection of maths self-marking problem solving questions. Search by age level or topic. This covers both Primary and Secondary levels. Topics include numbers, geometry, algebra, data analysis, probability and more.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths
This site is an amazing geometry playground for maths students and teachers. Select points on your screen and connect them up to provide the properties you what. This resource uses HTML5 and works wonderfully across a range of computers, browsers and tablets.
http://ictmagic.wikispaces.com/Maths
From the abstract (full text requires subscription or purchase): "Though cooperative learning has been a topic of considerable interest in educational research, there has been little study specific to learning in the mathematics content area of geometry. This paper seeks to address that gap through a design experiment featuring a novel small-group computing environment for supporting student learning about quadrilaterals. In this design, each student controls a unique point in a shared geometric space, and those points are linked such that a group of four students collectively forms a quadrilateral. We first present results from pre- and post-measures to show how the students learned from the activities and developed in terms of geometric reasoning. We then present three episodes, elaborated with the notion of appropriation, to explain how students took up ways of using the technological tools and of talking about geometric concepts from one another in the interactive environment. Our study found that students achieved learning gains in this novel environment, that the environment provided rich opportunities for peer interaction around geometric objects, and that student learning opportunities and interactions were characterized by processes of appropriating ways of talking about and using software features."
These tutorials have ben developed by the Western Cape DoE and covers Number patterns and sequences, Functions and graphs, Algebra and equations, Finance, Analytical Geometry, Transformation, Trigonometry and Mensuration, Data handling