THE GEOBOARD AND ITS DIDACTIC UTILITY

The geoboard is a very interesting didactic resource to work in the geometry, since it serves us to introduce the geometric concepts in a manipulative way. With it we also can discover the properties of the polygons or even to solve mathematical problems, to learn the areas, perimeters,… it is definitively a very useful resource to learn mathematics.

The geoboard was created by the Egyptian mathematician Caleb Gattegno in 1960, who was looking for a method to teach the geometry in a more didactic way. Although nowadays the majority of geoboards are made of plastic, the original one consisted in a square board of wood with nails forming a plot.

The method is very easy: we just need a rubber band and the children need to hook it to the nails to form geometric figures and to observe the area of polygons, for example.

For pupils between 3-7 years, this tool is very interesting to learn different concepts. In these ages the geometry should not be studied, but experimented. A good way to experiment is allowing them to promote their creativity. That is to say, allowing that the child freely explores his or her environment, without a specific goal. Perhaps they can discover the basic concepts and polygons, comparing different geometric forms, size and lenghts… In the following video we can observe how 6-7 yeared-ol children learn freely, form horizontal and vertical lines, etc.

                               
                       

Since they are 7 years old, the children can create complex plygons, classify them, recognize the basic elements of polygons (vertex, side and angle), observe the symmetry, calculate the perimeter and area of a polygon, solve the mathematical problems… In the next video we can see how it calculates the area of different polygons.