Creating Polygons with Logopaths Can Be Tricky

When creating polygons with specific angle measures in Logopaths, students often become confused. Confusion isn't a bad thing - of course - but when using software, there is a tendency to think, "Oh, this program doesn't work correctly" rather than realize that you have a deeper issue on your hands.

So when a student wants to create an equilateral triangle, for example, they may know they need a 60 degree angle, so they program, "rt 60" and are very surprised when they don't end up with what they thought they were going to end up with!

In this video, I try to clear up some of the confusion


Timmy Turns Polygons from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Pi Day: Circle Hunt!

Just in time for your Pi Day celebration! I put the beginning of this activity together with a younger audience in mind (Grades 1-3) but also included some spreadsheet love for 4th and 5th graders.

When I last did this activity (in a joint operation with Lacosta way back when) it was Anthony Bizardie who made "the discovery" about the magical 3.14.

Who will your Master Conjecturer be???


Pi Day: Circle Hunt! from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Logopaths: Feed the Turtle

Years ago, my students absolutely LOVED Geo-Logo. I'll never forget the amazing and complex creations of a kid named Derek Red Feather. (Derek - where are you???)

Unfortunately, Geo-Logo was gimped in the Investigations 2nd Edition. Doug Clements (the creator of Geo-Logo AND Building Blocks) and myself had quite a session lamenting this fact at the last NCTM Conference.

Nevertheless, the Logopaths software will still provide plenty of learning opportunities for your students. Hopefully, they've already experienced this in Unit 3. If not... there's no time like the present to add this to your workshop! You can find the software on your Investigations disk, assumed to still be in your binder.


Logopaths: Feeding the Turtle from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Why Pi?

I recently attended an excellent Webinar, Slices of Pi, with Key Curriculum Press. In one of the activities, we investigated Pi in a rather unusual way: by looking at the ratio 22/7.

In honor of the upcoming Pi Day celebrations, I thought I'd share this with you and your students. Very interesting!

Pi Flower from (Chris) on Vimeo.

Walking With Henri and Emile!

Walking With Henri and Emile Sketchpad tutorial.

One of the learning goals for Unit 5 (Moving Straight Ahead) is "I can construct tables, graphs, and symbolic equations that express linear relationships."

I've put together a Sketchpad tutorial to show you (or your students) how the investigation with Henri and Emile can be represented using dynamic software. You may want to use this tutorial to teach yourself how to construct the representation and then lead your students through it, or set it up as an independent activity.

Have fun!