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Sixth-Grade Games Using Protractors

Learning through games is a common strategy used by children, their parents, caregivers and educators. Applying this strategy to geometry received a boost with mathematics educational researchers Dina and Pierre van Heile. According to their ideas, "For children, geometry begins with play." Using games helps sixth graders understand and use protractors.

Classroom Games
- For classroom protractor games, the teacher refers to a large protractor so all the students can view the numbers. The kids can help prepare by making an oversized protractor and labeling the degrees. The teacher and students create a variety of angles or triangles from color construction paper and label the degrees on the back of the paper. These papers are then placed in a box. The sixth graders can work individually, in pairs, in small groups or in two large groups. With the large protractor displayed, the teacher or students close their eyes and select a paper and hold it up. The other students hypothesize the degrees of the selected angle. To check the measurement, the teacher or student then holds the paper on the large protractor. The students take turns guessing the degrees until all the papers have been selected.
Online Games
- Sixth graders can apply and practice their knowledge with online protractor games. Some games, such as "Angle Activities" shows a protractor, a colored angle and a question for the students to discuss. "Alien Angles" gives a fast-paced opportunity for sixth graders to practice their skills at estimating angle degrees. "Star Gazing" shows a protractor and telescope pointing into space. The kids guess the angle that the telescope needs to move in order to see a planet.
Art Games
- Merging art with protractors helps sixth graders broaden their understanding of the roles geometry plays in creating architecture and artworks. One game is to provide students with art history books or online resources. Students keep their protractors handy, next to notebooks or pieces of paper. Working in small groups, pairs, or individually, students look through the art books and make notes of the half-moon or circle shapes they find in paintings and buildings. The students then write down the name of the artwork or building, the artist or architect, the date, the location and the page number in the book. The goal is to find five examples and then present to the class. Some architectural examples include the Roman Coliseum, Romanesque arches and the naves of Gothic cathedrals. Paintings include Renaissance Fra Angelico's "Annunciation," Raphael Sanzio's "The School of Athens" and Leonardo da Vinci's sketch of human proportions related to a circle.
Home Games
- Home games help sixth graders apply what they have learned about protractors in their own homes. The kids walk around their homes with their notebooks, paper, pens or pencils. They make notes of angles, half-moon or circle shapes they find and the location. The kitchen is a good place to begin, offering round plates, clocks and mixing bowls. A piece of cake or pie offers measuring opportunities. The kids also can make notes of items that should form a half-moon or circle, but do not. A deflated soccer ball or flat tire can count as nonexamples. Kids can notice a table that rocks, measure the item and note that the table leg is not 90 degrees. The object is to find 10 items that show an angle, half-moon or circle shape and five items that should conform but do not.

Kids Games