Skip to main content

5 WAYS TO HELP STUDENTS UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF ANGLES IN MATHEMATICS

 

For some teachers, the concept of angles can be very difficult to impart especially at the elementary level. There is a difficulty in relating angular values and concrete objects. For instance while it is not difficult to represent 90 degrees using concrete objects, it could be very daunting doing same for 135 degrees or 207 degrees.The topic ‘Angles’ in mathematics is just an aspect of plane geometry and in this article we’ll talk about 5 ways teachers can help students understand the concept of angles.

 

USE VISUAL AIDS AND CONCRETE OBJECTS

In lesson delivery, it is very important to introduce visual representations such as charts and diagrams very early to assist students to visualize angles and their properties. This can enhance their understanding and make the concept more tangible.

Provide concrete objects like cut-out shapes, straws or straight edges to form different shapes and angles. Students can be given the opportunity to manipulate these concrete objects to form angles on their own.

In doing so teachers must remember learners are very different individually. While some learners may take some time to understand the concept others may be very quick in understanding.

 LET STUDENTS MEASURE ANGLES

Provide opportunities for more practice. Leaners should be given the opportunity to practice the act of measuring angles with their protractors. They could start with measuring simple and common angles to more intricate ones. This could be achieved by giving learners more homework and teachers must ensure learners get the assistance they need.

 ENCOURAGE PEER TUTORING

The teacher must encourage collaborative learning. This can be done through group work or peer tutoring to provide a deeper understanding of angles. This way students can teach each other and compare their work. Learners may feel more comfortable learning from their friends than the teacher in some cases.

ALLOW STUDENTS TO CONSTRUCT ANGLES

Teach and assist students to construct angles using their compasses. Allowing students to construct angles gives them the opportunity to identify the properties of angles. The construction processes can be broken down into simple steps with varying levels of complexity. This gives students the confidence to progress to one step after completing another.

 ASSIGN TASKS

Assign tasks to students. This would give the teacher the needed feedback to identify where students lack understanding. The teacher can ask learners to measure or construct an angle. The outcome of that assignment would give the teacher the needed feedback to adjust or adopt another technique.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FOUR WAYS TO HELP KEEP STUDENTS IN THE CLASSROOM

In most remote farming communities in Ghana students will most often substitute the classroom for farming which indeed provides their household with the most basic necessity of life, food. It remains a challenge for teachers in farming communities in Ghana to fight this phenomenon. This article presents four ways that could help keep students in the classrooms. 1.       Education Parents who are the ones responsible for the welfare of their wards should be educated extensively on the effects of their wards deserting the classroom for the farms. I believe if possible parents should be educated on what goes into planning a lesson. In planning a lesson sometimes teachers have to go places to borrow TLMs (Teaching and Learning Materials) which is not readily available or rather expensive to procure just to deliver a good lesson. If students are not present on a day a lesson is presented it becomes very difficult for teachers to help students make up for the lo...
7 comments
Read more

FOUR WAYS TO MAKE PROFRESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES (PLCs) EFFECTIVE

Professional learning communities refers to a group of teachers who meet periodically to share ideas to enable them improve their skills in teaching and also improve learner outcomes. Professional learning communities have two main goals: improve the teaching skills of educators and assist students to achieve better outcomes. Today, professional learning communities have become the new normal in Ghanaian schools since its introduction in September 2019. As this (PLC) is new in most schools in Ghana, the big question remains, how do we make our professional learning communities more effective and sustainable?   UNCOVER PLC Uncovering professional learning community is my own description of extensive literature review on professional learning community. While professional learning communities may be new to some teachers, others may have their own understanding about what professional learning communities really is. I think teachers who are really interested in enhancing their...
3 comments
Read more

Will the change from diploma to degree solve the problem?

  Teacher education in Ghana has seen a lot of changes in recent times. One major change has been the change of diploma awarding colleges of education to degree awarding colleges. This means all teachers coming out of the colleges of education will have a degree as the minimum qualification. This was great news to all teacher trainees in the various colleges as this will mean a marginal increase in their salaries when they are deployed to teach. Many have louded this move by government but my question is, will the degrees automatically result in better outcomes? I am yet see any difference in the skills set of a diploma holder and a degree holder as far as teaching is concerned in this country. A lot of teachers have acquired degrees on the job but pupils in government schools are still struggling to read and write, our children are not doing well in basic arithmetic and they can't think critically. I have enquired from few teachers on why they acquired university degr...
4 comments
Read more