Half a Pizza!

During yesterday’s presentations there happened to be two presentations that focused on the interior angles of a polygon. The lessons were presented using a variety of techniques and manipulative materials. The first lesson focused on measuring the angles while finding the formula for the sum of interior angles. The second presentation then built on this and provided a tangible method of finding the interior angles.

The differentiation of these two lessons made me realize that there are a variety of ways that the same learning goals can be met. The lessons complimented one another while still accomplishing the same learning. The first lesson’s work sheet provided a visual component of measuring the angles and properly dividing the polygons into multiple triangles. This allowed us to total the sum of the angles within the triangles and derive a formula from this pattern. The second lesson then added to this learning. The instructor provided us with the visual opportunity to explore the reasoning behind the sum of interior angles of a triangle. He focused on the visual kinesthetic learner and instructed us all to cut out a triangle. We then cut the corners off into “slices of pizza” and put them together to see what shape was created. I immediately noticed it was “half a pizza”. This then prompted the teacher to ask well, what could half a pizza also be known as? We all responded with half a circle, and realized that there was a straight line along the bottom, where all the points of the interior angles met. This straight line had a total of 180 degrees and proved that the interior angle sum of any triangle is 180 degrees. We then utilized this knowledge to explore other shapes and find the formula that was derived in the lesson before.

This concept of accomplishing the same learning goals while utilizing different lesson materials and activities exemplifies the notion of the curriculum being flexible. Both teachers allowed us to understand the formula for the sum of interior angles while accommodating a variety of learning styles. I will apply this in my future teaching while trying a variety of lesson activities. Going outside the box will keep students engaged and encourage them to be active members of their learning. Even though we learned the same lesson back to back we were all still engaged in both activities and met the success criteria.