When Year 7 students say they do not like Maths, do not believe it! Our last topic in Year 7 is Geometry, and while discovering more about triangles, students from 7HGI enjoyed the added bonus of a paper plane competition.
To ensure a level playing field, the students followed a series of instructions to make exactly the same paper plane. After some practice shots, the serious competition began! Our careful measurement showed that Sienna’s throw of 10.52m won her the competition, and that was with no wind assist! Eva and Hannah placed second and third, with their paper planes landing only 1cm apart, at 10.15m and 10.14m.
On return to the classroom, we opened up our paper planes and by following the folds, found that we could identify and outline lots of triangles, and classify them by angle and side length. The students could name so many different triangles – obtuse, acute, right-angled, scalene, equilateral and isosceles triangles. They were all there in the folds!
The students loved competing in their paper plane competition. Not only did they get to enjoy some sunshine, they consolidated their learnings in Geometry as well. Who said Maths wasn't fun?
Helen Hamblin
Year 7 Mathematics Teacher
