If you place the shape so it rests on one of its vertices then ‘ diamond’ is sure to come up, as changing the orientation of a shape can dramatically alter our perception of it. A few might even venture a ‘ rhombus’, ‘ tetragon’ or ‘ quadrangle’ but this will be rare. You might get some who respond with ‘ quadrilateral’, ‘ polygon’, ‘ rectangle’ and ‘ parallelogram’. For instance, show colleagues or your class a ‘ square rectangle’ and ask them to name it. In most maths classrooms, children learn the names for shapes without considering their essential properties. It’s time to challenge these traditional images and refine our own shape definitions so that children are getting correct information from the beginning. A square rectangle is labelled a ‘ square’, an oblong rectangle is just a ‘ rectangle’, a parallelogram is always pictured as a pushed over rectangle, and so on. If you have a shapes poster in your class, see how it conforms to stereotypical images and narrow definitions of shapes. Respected maths dictionaries, trusted resource books, gold standard websites and maths posters all play a part and are long overdue for an upgrade. It’s because we’ve taught them.īut, as teachers, we can’t take all the blame. Pupils should be learning that a square is a more specific classification of a rectangle just as a rectangle is a more specific classification of a parallelogram, and a parallelogram is a specific classification of a quadrilateral.Ĭhildren have a firm and fixed view of shapes and the stereotypes they have are deeply entrenched and remarkably persistent. It’s illuminating to see how prevalent the ‘ square’ misconception is and that maths learners young and old are often taught to categorise rectangles and squares separately. What we should be telling children is that this shape is ‘ a square rectangle’. When we say ‘ square’ we use it as a noun when in reality ‘ square’ is an adjective that describes a type of rectangle. It’s actually a lazy label we have attached to it and, like super glue, it’s hard to shift. But how well do we really know it? Here’s the thing, a ‘ square’ isn’t really a square. Take the square, one of the first 2D shapes we’re taught, and something you’d imagine there wouldn’t be much confusion around. The real problem with misconceptions is that when they’re unwittingly taught, children are being told faulty facts. Instead, we can positively use these misunderstandings and misconstructions during formative assessment, enabling us to help pupils “ develop richer and more robust conceptions“. Simply pleading ignorance and continuing to teach them is no longer an option. In fact, this is one of the recommendations in the ‘ Improving Mathematics at Key Stages Two and Three‘ report from 2018. It’s important to tackle maths misconceptions head-on. There is always plenty of buzzy stuff to discuss in maths especially when it comes to misconceptions, muddles and mix-ups.
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