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Native Dwellings
Students will have a better understanding of the attributes and relationships of geometric shapes when they have the opportunity of learning the architectural practices of Native American dwellings by analyzing the region and history of the tribes and their reasons for building their structures in a specific manner. A key part of this unit is the attributes of three-dimensional objects and measurement, as students use the shapes, analyzing how they relate to the Native American historical dwellings. By relating these two concepts of math and history, my students will learn with a deeper understanding and will develop an insightful outlook of the importance in understanding mathematical concepts as their ancestors did. Also, by developing a critical domain of the common core standard such as geometry in an organized unit, I will deepen and extend understanding of the concept for my students.
The curriculum and student outcomes will focus on using common core mathematical standards regarding two- and three-dimensional objects by drawing, constructing and describing geometrical figures, and explaining the relationships between them. The math instruction will scaffold using dimension of shapes. A line segment is a one dimensional shape with a measurement of length. A two dimensional shape is on a flat plane. Length and width are only directly relevant for rectangles. The key measure of a planar figure is area. Polygons, such as squares and rectangles, are examples of simple two-dimensional shapes. Rectangles have two pairs of equal, opposite sides. The lengths of these sides are usually called the length and the width of the rectangle. A three dimensional shape is more complex, so the focus for this unit are cube, rectangular prism (cuboid), hexagonal prism and cone.
During my research for the best method of instructing geometry concepts, I found research articles affirming that using visuals, hands on activities and constructing physical models provided an in-depth understanding of math concepts. By using physical models in enhancing their knowledge of the concepts of shapes students can come to understand the reasoning behind the formulas used in geometry for perimeter, area, and surface area.
This unit incorporates a variety of ELL strategies to include cultural relevancy, vocabulary, visuals, hands on, and math talk/discussion/writing. I plan to teach this unit during the third nine weeks of class, which will begin with the history of Native American dwellings as a motivational piece and will be integrated throughout the unit. Then I will review the two dimensional geometric concepts of area and perimeter, which are important basic foundational concepts. Subsequently, we will study the geometry concepts of surface area of two- and three-dimensional shapes.
Using guided reading of articles regarding the history of Native American dwellings and showing pictures from the internet will support students’ comprehension of the history Native American dwellings. The students will learn or revitalize their memory that there are tribes that use cones, rectangular prisms, cubes, and hexagonal prism shapes for their dwellings.
Most native peoples live in modern homes today, but years ago, they lived in vastly different dwellings. These inventive buildings were constructed using the available natural resources, such as buffalo hide, wooden poles, grass, adobe bricks, twigs, wooden logs, boulders, and mud, not requiring the modern tools and resources we rely on today.
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