Activities for Students: The Archaeological Dig Site: Using Geometry to Reconstruct the Past

Abstract

In secondary mathematics, students often see little connection between geometry and the real-life mathematical situations around them. When asked to describe geometric figures, their descriptions are sometimes no more than an identification of sides and angles. They have not had experience in using more than one property in a mathematical situation or in describing how two geometric properties are related. The van Hiele model of how students learn geometry proposes that students' understandings of geometry move from recognition to description to analysis (Fuys, Geddes, and Tischler 1988). For students to make this transition to analytic thinking, teachers need to create problem situations that enhance development of students' intuitive understandings. These investigations allow students to explore relationships among geometric shapes and to make conjectures about properties. The conjectures can then be stated formally as theorems.