Saturday, October 17, 2015

Angle of Coincidence

Quick idea for a math game on angles, hopefully I get to try it this week.

Materials: deck of angle vocabulary cards, blank paper, ruler, pens, protractor.

Set up: (make if necessary and) shuffle angle vocabulary cards.

Draw phase: teams take turns
  • add a point, and 
  • connect to one, two or three other points from your new point.
  • each team adds right angle mark or congruent length if that's their intent
  • both teams make 5 points.
An example:
Play phase: on your team's turn
  • roll a die (that's this turn's points)
  • flip a card. Claim an angle or a set of angles that fit the condition. You can only claim unused angles.
  • score that many points for each angle you claimed that fits the condition.
  • check: if you can't find one or find one mistakenly, the other team can catch you for 2 points per angle.
  • game is to 20 points, run out of cards, or all angles are claimed.
 Example: red scored an acute, a right and a pair of vertical angles. Green scored a pair of congruent angles and a set of supplementary angles.

Design reflection:
Could use a context, but the only thing that comes to mind is shooting metaphors. Maybe bird watching? You know how the kids love bird watching!

Foxtrot, of course, has angle games covered.
They even get triggy with it.
Lots of nice bits here, I hope. Constructing the board, using notation, eventually even making the cards. Some classic interaction (catch the opponents out in a mistake), but could be more. The thing I like the best is how the game will change in between playing. What angles were you unable to find, what combinations can you make, etc.

Possible starting card set:
  • an acute angle
  • a right angle
  • an obtuse angle
  • a pair of congruent angles
  • a set of congruent angles that are not right angles
  • a pair of complementary angles
  • a pair of adjacent angles
  • a pair of cute adjacent angles
  • a pair of acute obtuse angles
  • a pair of vertical angles 
  • a set of angles that add to 180 degrees
  • a set of angles that 
  • a pair of corresponding angles
  • a set of interior angles
  • a pair of congruent exterior angles
  • a pair of angles that add to 180 degrees
  • a straight angle
What else would you add? I'd want a set of cards a playing field to start, then introduce the making aspects when the students know how to play. Warning: only roughing out playtesting so far.

What do you think?

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3 comments:

  1. James ClevelandOctober 18, 2015 at 4:16 PM

    I wonder if the intro playing field can be more procedural in its creation. Like, a set of transparent cards (like in Swish, in transparencies) that you overlap following rules in the cards thenselves, to create dynamic new boards that still include many of the elements you are long for (which player-created boards may not).

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  2. Kathy HOctober 19, 2015 at 12:59 PM

    Cool idea. Would love to try it out with my 7th graders!

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  3. Simplifying RadicalsOctober 19, 2015 at 7:21 PM

    I like what I'm reading. I was thinking about having the "boards" being pre-made as an introduction, but you already thought that too. I was also thinking about area control. What if there was some type of bonus for claiming all the angles of a triangle (or something to that effect). Perhaps instead of flipping over 1 card, they flip 2 and pick 1 to use???? Just throwing out some thoughts I had, not even sure they would work.
    I really like all the math they would be elbow-deep in here. Great stuff!

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