Quadrilateral Hierarchy

This year I went all Web 2.0 on students trying to develop understanding about Quadrilaterals. I used Google Classroom to share files with students. I gave the students a document with everything they had to do for the project. They had a spreadsheet with the properties of each quadrilateral. They got a definitions handout (sorry, interwebs, it's from a textbook), and a google doc with the shapes to form a hierarchy.



What worked (and what I would change)

  • The to-do list was nice. Still scripted. Don't know if I can get away from that...Yet, this is a lesson that I am constantly redoing. If I stick with the list, I am going to give expectations for what should happen each day. I need to include the list of the properties (and for which shape) they will be proving. 
  • This Geogebra link in the To-Do list was nice. In the future, I need to add the other missing quadrilaterals. Namely the Kite and the Isosceles trapezoid. It will help the students research if each of the properties holds true for each shape if ALL the shapes are there.
  • I like that we were able to use the spreadsheets to get the information. I'd love a way to get the spreadsheet to auto correct their answers and I could get them to write about why they made their mistakes. Whether auto-correct or correction by class discussion, I will make time for student reflection on the "to-do" list document.
  • I like the definition handout from years ago. Students will be writing their own definitions AND they will then look up a dictionary definition and discuss they differences in their definitions. 
  • I love making a digital hierarchy. Google docs was not the right platform. I was thinking that I would use the same images in Slides next time, and then I found this Geogebra file. I will edit the work of "Tim" to include a simplified toolbar an Arrow tool and a Draw Vector tool. Students can save their work, or take a screen shot and paste it into the to-do list document and/or a Google Form so we can quickly compare all the results with the class.
  • I liked the class discussions. Need to give more reflection time on the content so that more students can participate in the discussion and gain from the exchange.
  • The proofs were fun. I gave each group in class 1-2 of the properties to prove (need to update that in the to-do list). I really enjoyed watching the students try to create each of the quadrilaterals in Geogebra so that they maintained the properties of each shape. As they found the right tools for one shape, they were able to adapt and create the other shapes. 
It has been a few years since I've taught this section of Geometry. What I have worked better when I was working out of a textbook without 1:1 devices. With technology, students can be in the drivers seat for more of this content. I just need time to polish.

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