Exploring shape through Triangles
Teaching Materials
Exploring shapes and the way they have existed and been used in different ways for thousands of years is an opportunity to ask where the maths in our curriculum has come from. It is an invitation to rehumanise the maths we learn, appreciating it as complex, vibrant, historical, global. Learning about geometry is an opportunity to ask questions about theories, formulas, equations and perceived knowledge and reflect on where these originated, how they travelled, and how how knowledge was ‘created’ in different places and through different means - necessity, practical use, language and scholarship.
Learning about geometry also allows us to appreciate aesthetic and spiritual aspects of mathematics expressed through design, symmetry and pattern.
Recent research has demonstrated the importance of spatial reasoning as a skill that underpins problem solving. Moving between different representations and visualising transformations is important at all stages of learning mathematics.
Before you Begin
Background reading and professional learning on anti-racism maths pedagogy:
- Dr Rowena Arshad (University of Edinburgh) on starting to decolonise the curriculum, Times Education
- 10 Questions to begin decolonising maths in your classroom
- Maslaha: Anti-racist Approach to Maths
Background reading and professional learning on the history of shape and triangles:
Maths and Numeracy Skills Progression:
↔ Swipe sideways to view all levels
| 1st Level | 2nd Level | 3rd Level | 4th Level |
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1st Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider the origins and uses of triangles, past, present and in their everyday lives. Through manipulation, spatial reasoning and tessellation, they come to explore the importance of triangles in structures, design and pattern across the world.
2nd Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider the origins and uses of triangles, past, present and in their everyday lives. Using meaningful contexts, they explore name and work with different types of triangles. Through manipulation, spatial reasoning and problem-solving, they discover the properties and possibilities of triangles and share the skills, values and ways of working they can all bring to maths tasks.
3rd Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider both the diversity and the similarity of mathematical ideas across the globe and through time. The eight-pointed star is used as a context to develop spatial reasoning skills through visualisation and different methods of construction. The notion of proof is introduced and connected to traditions of mathematical thought in different cultures.
4th Level Teaching Materials
Learners consider how what we call Pythagoras’ theorem was known and used across the ancient world. The activities ask learners to move between spatial and numerical approaches.