Geometry Scavenger Hunt.

 

I will have about 5 students this coming year in Geometry. Rather than beginning the year with the standard definitions, I think I'm going to give them a list of shapes to find but it will be done with certain restrictions. 

What I hope to do is to give them a list of shapes such as circle, square, rectangle, trapezoid, and others.  Their job is to find examples of the shapes around the classroom, on the playground, or even around their house.  

They will be required to snap photos of the examples (all my students have a camera) and then transfer the pictures to their computers.  Once the phots are downloaded, they are required to highlight the shape and then write a short description of the shapes they found in each photo.

For instance, if I were to talk about the picture above, I might say that there are three triangles on the front of the house.  The three triangles are actually iscoceles triangles.  There are also two windows that look as if they are square and one of the garage doors is rectangle but the smaller one is almost a square but not quite.  The front door is a rectangle. 

I feel by doing this, I am encouraging them to work on their mathematical vocabulary while I use this to assess their knowledge of geometrical shapes.  If they can only tell me there are three triangles but can't tell me the type of triangles they are, I know I'll have to cover that.  

Another reason for this activity is to show them that they can find geometric shapes all around them.  I am hoping they take photos of cars to show circles, squares, and rectangles.  I already know, they might have trouble finding an example of a right trapezoid and a regular trapezoid.  Those can be hard to find.  I am also hoping they will do a quick search on the internet to figure out what a rhombus is, or an equilateral triangle.  

I've never done anything like this before but I want to try it.  I want to see if I can move the students from passive learners to more active learners. Unfortunately, Covid caused many students to be less independent as far as learning, so I've been working on activities that will have them learning but will help them be more independent.

Let me know if you think this might work.  I'll report back in a couple of week after I've assigned it to them.  This way I can tell you how I'd change it to make it better.  Have a great day.