Friday, September 16, 2011

Measurement and Geometry (TOS Review)

imageEmily and I have been trying out a unique way to learn geometry. Area Formulas for Parallelograms, Triangles, and Trapezoids, published by AIMS Education Foundation provides a hands-on way to learn about area. This book is part of AIMS’ Essential Math line and is appropriate for students in Grades 6-8.
Each unit has several components for the students:
  1. Hands-on investigation, which includes measuring, cutting and re-forming shapes, and experimentation
  2. Animations and videos (available on the included cd-rom)
  3. Problem solving pages
  4. Comics that reinforce the concepts
Teaching helps include:
  1. A video (viewable from the included cd-rom) that explains the lesson and what the students will be doing and learning
  2. Student reproducibles that can be printed from the cd-rom
  3. Slide shows and animations to visually illustrate the concepts
I like this book a lot! Emily has been engaged and excited about using it (which is often not the case for math!) Many of the lessons involve cutting up and re-forming the shapes in order to measure area on a grid or forming a shape for which the student already knows the formula in order to master and understand a new formula.  The hands-on approach helps her (and me) see why the formulas work. I think that in the future, if she forgets the formula for a parallelogram or triangle, she will be able to logically and quickly figure it out. The animations and comic strips do a good job of reinforcing what she learns.
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Area Formulas for Parallelograms, Triangles, and Trapezoids and other books in this series are available from AIMS Educational Foundation for $9.95. You may read more reviews of this book and other AIMs books at the TOS Blog.
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As a TOS Crew member, I received a free copy of this book and cd-rom set from AIMs Education Foundation. All opinions are my own.

2 comments:

  1. This looks great for a hands-on child!

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  2. That is the same one my girls used, and the paper puzzles did help the concepts seem less abstract. I like adding hands on components into our lessons.

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