1. Middle School iSquad Grades 6-8 Measuring Shapes Using Geometer’s Sketchpad

2. Focusing Questions How can animation help illustrate a simple geometric concept? Why should we use Geometer’s Sketchpad as a tool to learn about Geometry?

3. Instruction

4. Framing The Session Who can tell me what this simple animation illustrates? We will learn how to create an animated triangle and measure the angles. This will allow us to answer this question.

5. Teaching Watch me as I show you how to draw a triangle and measure it on the Sketchpad software. There are many steps involved in this process. We will plot the points on the canvas. Next, we will draw the lines. Lastly, we will use the measure menu to make the measurements.

6. Work Time

7. Guided Practice Now it is your turn to construct a triangle and measure its angles. Take some time to create the triangle Draw in all the lines. Measure three angles and find the area. In addition, take a measurement of the triangle’s perimeter. What happens to the sum of the angles when you expand the perimeter and area?

8. Getting Started You will be creating a triangle. After you create the triangle, you will measure the three angles in a triangle. You will measure the area and perimeter. In addition, you will measure the sum of the angles using the calculate function on the Top menu.

9. Work Time There are five basic steps I will show you. You will follow these steps to complete the task. 1.Create the Angle 2.Sum of Angles in a Triangle 3.Construct a Shape 4.Measure the Perimeter and Area 5.Animate a Shape

10. Share

11. Many of you did a really good job. Why don’t we share what we found out about making a triangle? What advantages did you find in using this program? Who can share with the rest of the Squad some benefits of using Geometer’s Sketchpad? Share

12. How does this work address the questions that began the session? Through animation, we can visually see some of the concepts of geometry. Geometer’s Sketchpad makes learning geometry fun. It allows us to construct geometric shapes with ease. It also allows us to make simple measurements.