FINAL REFLECTION

Hello everybody! 

During the last weeks I have written several posts on the geometry in different areas: didactic methods, techniques and materials for the learning of the geometry in Primary (the geoboard, the technological applications and the movie 'Donald Duck'), the geometry represented in different artistic styles (Picasso, urban art through Invaders …), the geometry in the sport (the basketball), the geometry in the cities (grid plans) and the history of some geometric figures in the flags. 

With these posts I have pretended the readers of this blog see different ways of learning geometry. Although several of the posts are not directly didactic, they are very valid to teach this mathematical area. Through real contexts learning is very enterteining and useful. For example, by means of Picasso's pictures children can identify flat figures, analyzing the national flags they can know something of the history of those countries, or as the lines of a basketball field can be used by the students to measure them and calculate the area and the perimeter.

This has been the aim of this blog, to teach geometry in a different way and to create an awareness of presence, influence and importance of the geometry in the real life.

I hope you have enjoyed it!

LEARNING GEOMETRY WITH DONALD DUCK

There is a cartoon film for children called 'Donald duck in the country of the mathematics' that is perfect to see geometric concepts, providing a context and explaining how from geometric figures certain objects and places are composed, in a entertaining way for children.

From the minute 7 up to 13 it talks about geometry. “Fue nuestro viejo amigo Pitágoras quien descubrió las matemáticas el que descubrió que el pentagrama está lleno de matemáticas” (It was our old friend Pythagoras, who discovered the Mathematics, the one who also discovered that a pentagram is full of Mathematics) In this manner the explanation of the geometric concepts begins. It centres on the golden proportion, detaling the law of proportionality and showing some representations of this proportion in the reality, like in the architecture or the painting. It also talks on the pentagons and its real examples, like flowers and starfishes.

In the minute number 16 it explains that the sports are practiced on geometric figures, and it shows some examples, like the baseball (rhomboid) or the basketball (rectangle). 

From the minute 22:30 it talks about the circles and triangles. It explains how with a circle and a triangle a sphere is formed, or how through the top part of a sphere a magnifying glass is done. Finally, it explains how from turning a triangle on an axis a cone is formed, and how this one, cutting it of diverse ways, can represent from the orbit of the planets to the glass of a telescope.

From my point of view, it is a great movie for the third cycle, although it would not be bad for 8 and 9-years-old children (the second cycle). They explain different key concepts to understand the geometry in a enjoyable way (the presence of Donald duck is a point of attraction) and promotes the curiosity in the pupils, since it shows real examples, so pupils think and reflect that the geometry is present in every space, that it is not anything that they are forced to learn in Primary although it does not make sense.

I would like to share the whole film with you that I honestly recommend.