Unit Rationale & Unit Overview
Geometry in the Plane
Unit Rationale
This unit, Geometry in the Plane, is very important and should be taught to 7th grade students at this time. The unit provides students with an introduction to geometry. Students will learn about properties of intersecting and parallel lines. They will study angles, more specifically complementary and supplementary angles. Also, they will learn how to translate figures in the coordinate plane. Afterwards, students will study polygons, such as circles, parallelograms, and trapezoids and will discover properties and formulas. Throughout this unit, students will see how these topics connect to other area of mathematics that they have previously studied. Students will also be able to apply many of the skills they have previously learned to this unit. Furthermore, students will be able to connect concepts that they will be learning about to real-life situations, so students will see why the material they are learning is useful in everyday life situations. Throughout the unit, students will develop good spatial sense in order to help them in future geometry courses. In addition, students will have a good idea of what to expect in other geometry courses they will take in middle school and in high school. This unit is extremely important to include in 7th grade because it will provide students with an excellent background, which will benefit them in years to come.
Unit Overview
Students will learn several concepts and skills throughout the unit. First, students will study parallel and intersecting lines. They will measure angles of intersecting lines to discover that vertical angles are congruent. Students will learn about complementary and supplementary angles, as well as how to find the complement and supplement of any given angle. Next, students will study translations. They will learn how to translate a figure from one quadrant in the coordinate plane to another. In addition, they will learn about the relationships between the original coordinates of a figure and the translated coordinates. Afterwards, circles will be studied. With guidance from the teacher, students will discover the formula for finding the circumference and area of a circle. They will learn how to calculate the radius, diameter, circumference, and area given one of these measures. Next, an introduction to parallelograms will be given. Students will discover how parallelograms are related to rectangles as well as how to find the base, height, and area of any parallelogram. Finally, students will discover how to find the area of a trapezoid with guidance from the teacher as well using previous knowledge. Throughout the unit, the teacher should emphasize important vocabulary and make sure students have a firm understanding. Connections should also be made to other areas of math as well as to real-life situations whenever possible.
The lessons in this unit are student-centered. Many of the properties and formulas that are important to this unit are discovered by students through thoughtfully planned activities guided by the teacher. When students learn through discovery, they are more likely to understand and remember than if they were lectured and told to memorize facts and formulas.
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