Looking back on our topic some questions still remain in our minds. Throughout our research it was very difficult to determine the origin of symmetry. There have been examples of symmetry in nature and around the world since the beginning of time, however we were unable to find an exact date or mathematician relating to its discovery. We feel that this information would be interesting to note, as there is much information regarding the origin of geometry in general. Therefore, a question we would like to have answered is:
-Who first discovered symmetry and when was it discovered?
We found a lot of information on the topic of symmetry, especially with regards to the various types (i.e. line symmetry, point symmetry, rotational symmetry, etc). With so many aspects of symmetry, teachers may question the necessity of which topics to focus on in their lessons.
-How do we, as teachers, determine what aspects of symmetry to emphasize in the teaching of symmetry?
In reflecting on the topic of symmetry, we noted that there are a vast amount of resources available for use in the implication of a unit, such as this, in mathematics. Helpful to us, as future teachers in a technology-based world, online activities are valuable resources in gaining the attention of our students. A helpful online resource that we found is listed at the bottom of the main page of this blog.
Interesting to us, and possibly our future students, is the concept of the Golden Ratio. As we learned, in creating this blog, children have an innate sense to look for symmetry in the human body. For this reason, we feel that this topic would be of interest to our students - an explanation for why we see beauty in different people.
The issues we addressed in our blog were those that we felt would be most important when implicating a mathematics unit on symmetry. Though there are many other issues that can be addressed, as primary/elementary teachers, we feel that we cannot be experts in this field, yet we certainly feel more capable of teaching symmetry in our classroom thanks to our researched information.
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This blog attempts to assist teachers in bringing forth the topic of symmetry to students in the Primary/Elementary grades. The entries are meant to give an overall sense of the topic, touching on its history, interesting/important facts, as well as ideas for teaching through problem solving.
This blog attempts to assist teachers in bringing forth the topic of symmetry to students in the Primary/Elementary grades. The entries are meant to give an overall sense of the topic, touching on its history, interesting/important facts, as well as ideas for teaching through problem solving.
About Me
- Ashley & Courtney
- We are 4th year students in the Faculty of Education at Memorial University of Newfoundland. We are in the process of completing a Bachelor of Education degree in Primary/Elementary Education.