Today’s class introduced me to a few activities that I would certainly like to try in my own classes. Admittedly, I was somewhat skeptical of the effectiveness of teaching outside, but today’s class has really made me reconsider and reflect on how students can benefit from certain activities and observations that can only be done outside.
Observing angles in nature and discussing the differences between man made and natural structures really makes the abstract ideas of Euclidean geometry more relatable for students. I particularly enjoyed thinking about where we can find right angles and straight lines in nature (trees growing perpendicular to the ground, stickbugs, the horizon, etc.) and also how some man-made structures might be inspired by nature. I was also reminded of how I struggled, when first learning about angles, with how the idea angles applied to intersections between curved lines. Perhaps this can also be used when discussing the idea of tangent lines.
My favourite part of the lesson was measuring the altitude of the Sun with our body and tracing the Sun’s path through the sky. Reflecting on my own schooling, the experiences of my siblings and students I’ve tutored, I think astronomy is not emphasized nearly enough in most classrooms. Having students do real astronomical observations is such a fantastic way of engaging students and getting them to think about how the world works. In my opinion, the sky is a free, accessible laboratory that should be used more by teachers!
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