Resumen de Introducing the concept of angle to young children in a dynamic geometry environment
Harpreet Kaur
This paper examines the effect of the use of dynamic geometry environments on young children’s (ages 5–6, kindergarten/grade 1) thinking about angle. It provides a detailed description of introductory sessions of a geometry unit about angle, during which children worked in a whole classroom setting in which they could interact directly with Sketchpad through an interactive whiteboard. Using Sfard’s [2008, Thinking as communicating: Human development, the growth of discourses and mathematizing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press] communicational approach, an attempt is made to show how children developed a reified discourse on angles and were able to develop an understanding of angle as ‘turn’, that is, of angle as describing an amount of turn. This discourse focused on the behaviour of a pre-constructed sketch which instantiated both dynamic and static representations of angle. Extending prior research on children’s difficulties in unifying static and dynamic conceptions of angles, this study provides one way of establishing a relationship between angle-as-turn and angle-as-shape conceptions.
Gestures and motion played an important role in children’s developing conceptions of angles. It presents implications of considering young children’s embodied forms for communications along with their verbal communication for understanding their mathematical thinking.
