Exploration of polygons in a STEAM framework: technology and cultural background

Abstract

Polygons are an important topic in geometry. We propose and analyse activities for the exploration of their properties, with extensive usage of a dynamical geometry system. They are based on the analysis of monuments, connecting students’ cultural backgrounds with their mathematical learning. Moreover, two opposite directions for work are presented: an analytic way beginning from the monument and exploring its geometric features, and a more synthetic way, using the output of the analysis to build a model with the software. We show how these STEAM activities, based on existing monuments of various shapes, enhance the 4 C’s of twenty-first century skills.