Angles in parallel lines is a topic that doesn’t usually feel too tricky to teach, but I often feel that I am just telling them “this is how it is” without giving a good explanation.
Inspired by a Twitter discussion on this Brilliant task, I’ve had a rethink:
From @brilliantorg pic.twitter.com/UpoQQhanxm
— Jo Morgan (@mathsjem) February 2, 2017
I use Geogebra a lot. It’s a powerful tool which somehow seems more powerful when you start with a blank page rather than something that has already been created. And angles in parallel lines is quick and easy enough to create on Geogebra:
Whilst doing this, I would want to move things around a bit to show that the two lines can move but stay parallel whereas the third line can move by moving the points.
This is the point where I previously might have just started measuring angles and showing what stays the same and changes as I moved the lines.
But it has struck me that this is a good opportunity to reinforce the idea of degrees as a measure of turn. I often use a simple “Guess the angle” game like this.
I ask students to estimate the angle and show me on mini-whiteboards. Something as simple as this can cause great excitement when someone gets it exactly correct! But it also reinforces the idea of degrees as a measure of turn from one line to another.
So, back to parallel lines, I am trying to show that the reason that alternate angles and corresponding angles are equal is because after turning one way an then back the other I end up pointing in the same direction. And the reason co-interior angles sum to 180° is because I end up pointing in the opposite direction.
So, here is one that I did make earlier. I have set it up so you can see the actual lines turning with the degrees increasing as they do so. I need to convince my learners that you can move from the first arrow to the second arrow by moving down the transverse line without changing direction. Because of that, I will need to turn through the same angle to land back onto the parallel line:
And here is the same idea for Corresponding Angles:
I’d be really interested to hear any thoughts on this as a pedagogy – please leave comments below.
Yes, I agree; Geogebra is most effective when teacher starts with a blank page rather than a pre-prepared slide set – that can seem like a hackneyed ppt presentation style.
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