ANGLES
ShadowAngles
Onasunnyday,childrencaninvestigateanglesinshadows.Beforegoingoutside,askchildren
tohypothesiseabouttheanglestheyarelikelytofindinshadows.Forexample,itcouldbea
statementsuchas“Shadowanglesaremoreacutethantheactualanglewithinanobject.”This
is a great opportunity to design a fair test and to think about how the activity will be
undertakenbyeachgroup.
Thenextstephereistoinvestigatehowthemovementofshadowscanbeusedtocreateasun
dialandtoascertainthecompassdirections.FormoreinformationhavealookattheShadow
Playblogpost:http://creativestarlearning.co.uk/science-outdoors/shadow-play/
Createrightangledetectors!
Takeanacetatesheetandcutintopalmsizedsquares.Usingapermanentmarkerpenanda
rulerdrawalongtwoedgessotheymeetinonecornerandputasquaretosymbolisearight
angle.Thissee-throughdetectorallowschildrentoplaceitonanyobjectandcheckwhetherit
isarightangle,acuteorgreaterthanarightangle.Afterdemonstratingindoors,childrencan
gooutsideandseewhatobjectshaverightangles.Thiscanleadtoallsortsofproblemsolving
including working out how many right angles are in a wall of bricks (or even on the whole
schoolbuilding).Thedetectorscanalsobeusedtoseewhetheranglesareobtuseoracute.
Aninterestinginvestigationistofindoutwhetheritisjustbuildingsthathaverightanglesor
whetherrightanglesexistinnature.Whataboutcurvedandstraightlines?
Introduceclinometersformeasuringtheheightofbuildings,treesandotherlandscape
features,followingontheactivitydescribedabove.
Anglesinnature
Investigatingrightanglesthroughtheuseofsticksiscoveredbythisblogpost:
http://creativestarlearning.co.uk/maths-outdoors/outdoor-maths-investigating-right-angles-with-sticks/
Aswellasanglesinman-madestructures,searchingfordifferentanglesinnatureworkswell.It
canbesurprisinglychallengingtomeasuretheanglesofbranches–figuringoutwaysofdoing
thisaccuratelycanbeagoodchallengeforolderchildren:
©JulietRobertson,CreativeSTARLearningLtd,2016www.creativestarlearning.co.uk
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http://creativestarlearning.co.uk/digital-technology/outdoor-maths-looking-at-differentangles-in-nature/
Angletrails
Thisisaformoforienteering.ThechildrenwillneedtobetaughthowtouseaSilvacompassor
theequivalentonasmartphoneortablet.PutupaseriesofsignsornumbersorQRcodes
aroundtheschoolgrounds.Plottheseonamap.Childrenhavetousethemaptolocatethe
signs,writedownthesymbol,QRreferenceornumberandworkouttheanglesbetweeneach
sign,fromnorth.C
Dorightanglesmatter?
Isitpossibletocreatearightangleusingtwosticks?
Canyoumake2rightangleswithtwosticks?
Whatabout3or4rightangleswithtwosticks?
Seeifyoucanfindarelationshipbetweenthenumberofsticksandthenumberofrightangles
thatcanbemade.Whenmightthismatterinyourlife?
Investigatingrightangles
Investigatingrightanglesthroughtheuseofsticksiscoveredbythisblogpost:
http://creativestarlearning.co.uk/maths-outdoors/outdoor-maths-investigating-right-angleswith-sticks/
Thechallengeisforchildrentoworkinasmallgroup.Usingsixlargeandsixsmallsticks,whatis
themostnumberofrightangleswhichcanbemadebyonegroup?
Thischallengecanbeextendedtoincludeothercriteriatoo,suchasperpendicularlines,obtuse
andacuteangles,parallellines,etc.
StickyNumbers
Challengeagroupofchildrentomakethedigitsfrom1to9withsticks.Butthereisanewangle
onthis!
• Number1musthaveonlyoneanglelessthan180degrees.
• Number2musthaveexactly2angleslessthan180degrees.
• Number3musthaveexactly3angleslessthan180degrees.
• Etc.
As0haszeroangles,thisneednotbemadewithsticks.Canthechildrenfindazeroinanother
objecttocompletethenumerals?
©JulietRobertson,CreativeSTARLearningLtd,2016www.creativestarlearning.co.uk
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Frisbeegolf
Thisisafunwayofputtinganglesintoagame.Setupacourseofconemarkersonaplaying
fieldandcreateaverysimplemap.Insmallgroups,childrenhavetotaketurnstothrowthe
Frisbeefromconetocone,aimingforathrow-in-one.Ateachcone,thechildrentaketurnsto
aligntheircompasstonorthandworkouttheanglefromnorthtothenextcone(reflexangles
canbeusedheretoo).Thedistanceinmetrescanalsobemeasuredbetweeneachconeand
thiscangiverisetosomegooddiscussionsespeciallyifdifferentmeasuringmarkersareused,
e.g.onegroupusesametrestick,anotheratrundlewheelandanotheratapemeasure.Ifthere
is a GPS system in school, this can be used to accurately measure all angles and distances
quickly.
Orienteeringisanexcellentwayofdevelopingtheseskillsandputtingthemintopractice.The
TOP Outdoors pack from Sport Scotland has many good ideas about introducing this sport,
beginningintheschoolgrounds.
©JulietRobertson,CreativeSTARLearningLtd,2016www.creativestarlearning.co.uk
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