Initiating the Excursion
If this is the first time your students have used this E-example, you should provide a brief overview of the four directional buttons used to navigate the ladybug at the interactive applet. It is important for students to understand how clicking each of the buttons affects the direction of the ladybug. Remember to include movements for left, right, forward and backward. (See directional
figures below).
|
move backward
|
move forward
|
45 degree |
90
degree
|
To introduce the activity, place students in teams and have them use the Getting Around Applet.
(Make sure students are not using the Hiding Ladybug Applet, which was used in the previous two lessons.)
Working together, partners share the responsibilities of "Mouse Driver" and "Reader/Recorder." The "Reader/Recorder" will read the directions from the activity sheet and record observations while guiding the activity. The "Mouse Driver" controls the action of the mouse and movement on the computer screen; partners should switch roles until all have moved the ladybug.
Ask students to create rectangles using only one 45-degree angle at a time, between the arrows. After a few minutes, discuss why it is not possible to make a rectangle using only 45-degree angles. Ask students if they can find any examples of where a 45-degree angle was used in the classroom environment. Students share their answers with the class.
Developing the Excursion
After the students have identified 45-degree angles in the classroom, students should return to the interactive applet and create as many different rectangles as possible using any of the buttons. They can create rectangles that
are long and thin, those that are short and almost square, and those that are the largest.
As students experiment, they will begin to understand the relationship between the lengths of the sides and the resulting shape of the rectangle.
Closing
Include questions or tasks that encourage students to reflect on their work. For example, you could have students consider
questions similar to the Questions for Students, as shown below.
After students finish investigating the applet, distribute the My Rectangles and Angles Activity Sheet to each team.
Ask students to draw pictures of
the different types of rectangles they created on the top half of the sheet. Then they should draw illustrations of the specific angles they used to make their rectangles on the bottom half of the sheet. Finally, the partners should
discuss what they learned from this activity.
