Key Mathematical Ideas and Skills: Shape Recognition

Summary

Children observe and interact with three-dimensional objects through daily activities in the environment such as building blocks, book reading, balls or puzzles. Learning three-dimensional shapes is one of geometry outcomes in Victorian Essential Learning Standards. In my lesson plan, I concentrate on recognizing and naming familiar three-dimensional shapes by providing students the Three-dimensional Shape Hunt activity. This report will reflect the lesson plan on four points:

• Key mathematical ideas and skills

• Link to relevant curriculum documents and understanding of the learning sequence

• Teaching approaches, developing children’s understanding, appropriate models and materials for learning

• How children learn the mathematics concepts

1. Key Mathematical Ideas and Skills

The rationale in this lesson is students learn about common three-dimensional solids by exploring a variety of objects in the environment and learn the geometric vocabulary of three-dimensional shapes. Furthermore, students are encouraged to participate and practice in team work through the shape hunt activity. It helps students improve some skills such as visualizing, explaining, reflecting, recording and sketching. As a result of the lesson, students are able to recognize and name familiar three dimensional shapes such as sphere, cuboid, cube, pyramid and cone.

The lesson plan is also a good opportunity for student to review basic two-dimensional shapes such as square, triangle, rectangle and circle. It introduces students to transformation of two-dimensional representation to three-dimensional solids. Students will enhance their knowledge about the relationship between two and three-dimensional objects.

2. Link to Relevant Curriculu...

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...Concepts

According to the Van Hiele Theory, students understand the three-dimensional shape concept through the first two levels of this theory

 Level 1: Recognition/ visualisation

In this lesson, students have a lot of opportunities to use their visual skills to recognize basic two-dimensional shapes as well as objects in the environment which relate to three-dimensional shapes. At this level, students can use geometrical language when describing and explaining their geometry knowledge.

 Level 2: Analysis

This level is included in shape hunt activity. Students start to notice and acknowledge attributes and properties of shapes and objects. However, students at level 2 still need more explanations about the relationships between objects and three-dimensional shapes or the relationships between two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional shapes.