In class we have read an article and we built our own polyhedrons. When we built our own polyhedrons we were instructed to make a net with the polyhedron of our choice. When we first started our polyhedrons were pretty simple and basic like making the soccer ball with all of the pentagons, or making houses. But as time went on all of us, the students, begun to expirement with different shapes and creations. We began making shapes on top of eachother. I made a polyhedron with a square base, with two tears of triangular prisms on top with a flat top at the very top instead of a point, but I could not draw the net of it because I was not sure how.
It was interesting to compare our findings with the article. The article talked about having first and second graders be introduced to polyhedrons they were allowed to play with the tiles for a little while to see how they work. Using the exploratory play the students made simple shapes like the soccer ball, or a space ship. But as the students had more time over a few days they began building more intricate objects that were still explained by known objects. This project showed that when the students verbally explained what they made they always related it to real life objects, but when they were asked to write down what they made there was a interesting finding. Students did different things, some students were able to draw out the net for the their shape so someone else can build the same shape. But what almost all the students done was with the writing description they would write how many faces or sides their object had also how many and what shapes they used to make these shapes. Lastly, they had the students create polyhedrons, they wrote a description of it and then the students circled up with the polyhedrons randomly placed in the center of the circle. The teacher then read off the description and the students had to guess which object they were talking about.
I believe that polyhedrons could be very effective in class. It allows the students to do math and explore their creativity side. It also allows the students to start realizing that details matter when your describing an object. Being able to see the faces and sides is helpful when trying the find the properties in shapes and it just reinforces the idea doing this activity. Before this class I have never heard of polyhedron but I do want to explore it more so I could potentially incorporate it into my future classroom as effectively as I can.
It was interesting to compare our findings with the article. The article talked about having first and second graders be introduced to polyhedrons they were allowed to play with the tiles for a little while to see how they work. Using the exploratory play the students made simple shapes like the soccer ball, or a space ship. But as the students had more time over a few days they began building more intricate objects that were still explained by known objects. This project showed that when the students verbally explained what they made they always related it to real life objects, but when they were asked to write down what they made there was a interesting finding. Students did different things, some students were able to draw out the net for the their shape so someone else can build the same shape. But what almost all the students done was with the writing description they would write how many faces or sides their object had also how many and what shapes they used to make these shapes. Lastly, they had the students create polyhedrons, they wrote a description of it and then the students circled up with the polyhedrons randomly placed in the center of the circle. The teacher then read off the description and the students had to guess which object they were talking about.
I believe that polyhedrons could be very effective in class. It allows the students to do math and explore their creativity side. It also allows the students to start realizing that details matter when your describing an object. Being able to see the faces and sides is helpful when trying the find the properties in shapes and it just reinforces the idea doing this activity. Before this class I have never heard of polyhedron but I do want to explore it more so I could potentially incorporate it into my future classroom as effectively as I can.