Post 9: Finding Angle Measurements Using Fractions

 This past week, we started introducing measuring angles to students. We had them do a few angles identifying questions (are the angles right, acute, or obtuse?) and then we had them practice measuring angles with a protractor and how that's done. They seemed to do really well with that and knowing which degree numbers to read based on if the angle is acute or obtuse. Starting today, however, we introduced them to finding out angle measurements using fractions. We started off with this problem involving a clock:


We taught them that no matter how big or small a circle is, the total amount of degrees it equals is 360. Once they got that concept down, they knew that 360 degrees is the whole. We then showed them how you can divide the clock (or circle up) into 4 pieces because you could draw a line at every 3rd number. We then were able to come up with the equation 360/4=n. After dividing we know that n=90degrees.

Once they felt comfortable with this, we had them move on to these next problems:


With these problems, they will have to bring in their newly acquired knowledge that every circle equals 360 degrees. So for question one, they would get an answer of 120/360 or 1/3 as the fraction of a circle that a 120 degree angle runs through. 
For a question like #5, they would need to write an equation like 1/5=n/360 and solve for n. To do this, you would need to multiply 1/5 by 72/72 in order to get n=72 or 72/360. With this fraction, students then know that an angle running through 1/5 of a circle is 72 degrees. Then would then apply this same strategy to the other problems

This was a really interesting lesson for me because I don't remember learning this in school at all and I had no idea fractions could be used to figure out the measurements of angles. I thought we were totally done with fractions for the rest of the year so this is really cool to see. I'm learning a lot with this lession




Comments

  1. RichieMarch 22, 2022 at 6:23 PM

    Very interesting lesson! I too do not remember learning this in school. I love how you started with baby steps. Starting with types of angles and then measuring angles. Building on simple concepts and putting them both together to get to your lesson about a full circle being 360 degrees is a great way to have students build upon past concepts and prior knowledge.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brittany GiarraffaMarch 26, 2022 at 2:57 PM

    This is a great lesson! I agree with Richie, I think its a good idea to start simple and work your way up to more complex understanding for the students. I love how you incorporated using a clock in these examples.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post 2

 As my student teaching continues, I am finding myself becoming much more confident in my ability to teach fractions. Some students in the class are still struggling with creating equivalent fraction and simplifying fractions, so my cooperating teacher has let me review and teach in small groups with specific students. We are using the rainbow method of finding the factors of the numerator and denominator in order to find the Greatest Common Factor. Some students are still struggling with that as well since some of their multiplication skills are a bit weak. After we work through that, we circle our GCF and divide our fraction by it. I remind them "whatever I do to the top, I do to the..."  "bottom" they say "Whatever I do to the bottom I do to the...." "top" they say I like to see that they actually understand what to do. I then ask them what our new numerator and our new denominator is. It takes them a second to figure out the division but they...
Read more

Post 4

 This past week, my class started to learn how to add and subtract mixed numbers with common denominators. We spent tons of time showing them the steps needed to take and went over how to borrow whole numbers when subtracting. The students did really well on all their assignments, class worksheets, and homework with this unit. My cooperating teacher and I felt that they were ready to take their exam so they took it Friday. Much to our surprise, many of the students failed! Looking back at their work, we found that so many of them made careless mistakes in their math and didn't read directions or word problems carefully. We decided to let a few of them retake the test with guided help from myself. I gave them a refresher lesson on adding and subtracting mixed numbers, borrowing whole numbers, and even converting mixed numbers and improper fractions. Even with guidance, it still was a struggle for some of the students. How could they do so well in class and on their homework but so p...
Read more

Post 1: Fractions

 A topic of math that I find myself being a bit uncomfortable with is fractions. I remember dreading them in school and even having my 3rd-grade teacher yell at the class for not understanding. Given my lack of proficiency with fractions, I don't feel the most comfortable having to teach about them to students. This is something I would definitely love to change as the semester progresses. Funny enough, I just started my student-teaching placement in a 4th-grade classroom and what are they focusing on right now for math? Fractions! Right now they are learning how to simplify fractions using the Greatest Common Factor, create equivalent fractions, and see if fractions are greater than, less than, or equal to one another by cross multiplying. Soon they will learn how to add and subtract fractions with the same and different denominators. I've already started learning so much in just a short amount of time and I'm already starting to feel a bit more comfortable. I've also ...
Read more