Saturday, February 4, 2012

Nets of Pyramids

Exploring nets of pyramids is exciting for children. We start with Polydrons from ETA that link together easily. This is one net of a hexagonal pyramid. How many different nets can you find? When students have a concrete model to build they can easily see the faces, vertices, and edges.
Mathematicians collect data as they explore the faces, vertices, and edges of pyramids. They look for patterns and rules. This graphic organizer provides students with a way to move from the concrete to pictorial to the abstract. Children write riddles for their classmates to solve. For example: I am a pyramid with 5 vertices. What am I? Since one of the vertex points must be the apex, we know that the other 4 must be at the base. What polygon base would have 4 angles to form 4 vertices? The questions and explorations are endless!

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