Back to Basics

In this introductory activity, students create and describe geometric designs for other students to recreate. Making connections between shape, structure, and location develops spatial thinking. The activity emphasises the importance of students learning to describe even simple mathematical transactions in concise and unambiguous language – their instructions need to convey the design by themselves.
The geometric shapes suitable for this activity include attribute blocks, geoshapes, tangram pieces, or tessellating tiles. International pattern blocks also fit together well.
Before the activity, revise geometric terms. The students need to be familiar with the names of the shapes, geometric terms such as side and vertex, and prepositions that can be used to describe relationships.
There are two main approaches to teaching students about shapes. The first involves showing the students examples of “typical” shapes. For example:

Be aware that some students will see shapes as different if their orientation or size is changed. For example, a student may see these as two different shapes:

A second approach involves teaching students about the attributes of families of shapes. For example, a parallelogram is a 4-sided shape with 2 pairs of parallel sides. All of these shapes are examples of parallelograms:

Discuss families of shapes with the students, exploring the attributes they have in common.
This activity provides an opportunity for students to develop the key competency using language, symbols, and texts by using geometric terms to devise and follow a set of instructions.
Some students may find it difficult to describe their design in words. If necessary, scaffold the activity by starting with 2 or 3 shapes, building up to 5.
You could extend the activity by asking the students to incorporate compass directions into their instructions.

Support for English Language Learners

Supporting students with describing and understanding descriptions of geometric designs

Language focus: Describing shapes and location
To support your students, especially English language learners, you could model and record the vocabulary, use a speaking frame to show some ways they can describe shape and location, and provide opportunities to practise before they work independently.

Vocabulary

• Hold up the shapes you will be using, asking students to call out words for the shapes. Write these on the board beside each shape (either using a picture or by sticking them on).
• Ask the students to brainstorm in pairs any other words to describe the shapes, such as “side” and “vertex”.
• Have the pairs share their ideas with the whole group and record these words too.

Prepositional phrases for location and speaking frame

• Tell the students to give you directions to put the shapes into a design. As you accept and follow their directions, record the prepositional phrases they use.
• Model a sentence (or several) that describes shape and location, for example, The blue octagon is above the yellow rectangle. Then write your sentence on the whiteboard.
• Erase the optional parts of the sentence, move your shapes, and co-construct a new sentence by filling in the gaps.
• Erase the optional parts of the sentence again and tell the students to refer to the frame as they are describing the patterns.

Pairwork describing shape and location

• Have the students work in pairs. Label the pairs A or B. Give the pairs either design A or design B (which you have prepared earlier). Tell them to talk in pairs about how to describe their design to another pair.
• Give each pair a set of shapes. Have pairs A and B sit back to back and take turns describing their designs and listening and recreating the designs. (To provide differentiated instruction, you could prepare designs of varying complexity to suit the levels of your students. To make the activity more challenging, you could also have the students give their descriptions in a chain of four – so student 1 has the picture, describes it to student 2 who recreates it and then describes it to student 3, and so on.)
• Then give each student a set of shapes and complete Activities One and Two on page 1.

For information about language for describing and ideas on how to support students, see Supporting English Language Learning in Primary Schools: A Guide for Teachers of Years 5 and 6, Describing, pages 10–17.

Technology-related student activities

• Discuss with the students ways in which this task could have been completed using modern technology (for example, creating a design on the computer or taking a photo on a cellphone and sending it to a classmate for them to use to check their re-creation).
• Discuss how communication has progressed from local to global.
• Explore the effects of technology on human interaction.
• Discuss the effect of being unable to access certain types of communication. For example, what might happen in a crisis situation if people were unable to use their cellphones?
• Research ways to address privacy issues, for example, using codes, encryption, secure sites, and passwords.
• Research changes and modifications to communication devices. See www.arctos.com/dial
• Research alternative ways of communicating information, such as semaphore, Morse code, ASCII, the telegraph, and Braille.

Exploring the technology-related context

There have been rapid advances in communication in the last 200 years. Electronic devices have removed the constraints of distance and increased the speed and ease with which we can communicate. It is no longer necessary to be within earshot or in sight of another person.

Answers to challenge

1. a.–c. Practical activity. Designs and descriptions will vary.
2. Results and discussion will vary.