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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

UNIVERSITI BRUNEI DARUSSALAM

PS 0270: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

Geometer's Sketchpad

DONE BY:
PG NUR AL’AIN BINTI PG HJ JALALUDIN (10D0030)

LECTURES:

DR LEONG YONG POK

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

Geometer's Sketchpad
This study was conducted based on a strong belief that the use of computers and
computer-based application, students of high school and middle school would
perform better. The use of Geometery Sketchpad is a software that is designed to help
both the teacher and the student to achieve their goals.

An Introduction to Geometer’s Sketchpad

In this lesson you will learn some of the basic features of Geometer’s Sketchpad. In
particular you will learn how to draw points, circles, line segments, rays, and lines.
The Measure menu will be also is explored, including how to measure angles, lengths,
perimeter, and also use the Geometer Sketchpad’s built-in calculator. Finally, you will
learn how to choose options from the Construct menu for objects such as parallel
lines, perpendicular lines, midpoints, angle bisectors, etc.

Point: Locate and left-click on the point button which is located on the left side of
your screen. The arrow that is controlled by your mouse should now have a red dot at
the tip of it. Left-click anywhere in the drawing window and a point will appear.
Draw several points in the window. How does the most recent point you have drawn
look different from the previous points?

Circle: Locate and left-click on the circle button which is located on the left side of
your screen. To draw a circle, left-click in the window. A point marking the center of
the circle will appear. Now drag your mouse until the circle has the desired radius.
Then left-click again.

Line: Locate and left-click on the line button which is located on the left side of your
screen. If you click quickly, the default is to draw line segments. However, if you
hold the left mouse button down while on the line button, a menu appears that allows
you to choose between line segments, rays, and lines. Explore each of these options
and draw a few line segments, rays, and lines in your window.

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

Select: Locate and left-click on the select button which is located on the left side of
your screen (it is the arrow that points up and left). Left-click on some of the objects
that you have already drawn (e.g. points, lines, and circles). What happens? How can
you tell which objects are selected and which are not? If you select a line segment,
does this action also select the endpoint vertices of the segment? What happens if you
left-click an empty spot in the window while in select mode?

The purpose of the select action is clear when we use the Measure and Construct
menus.
Measure menu: Locate the drop-down measure menu at the top of your window. You
will notice numerous options. However, you may not be able to choose most of these.
This depends upon which objects are, or are not, currently selected. Options such as
Angle, Area, and Distance require that certain objects are selected before these
options can be chosen. For example, to measure distance you can select two points.
To measure an angle, select three points that define the angle. Experiment with some
of the other options in the Measure menu and see which kinds of objects must be
selected to use the option in question. What is the difference between distance and
length?

Caution: Often you may find that an option under the Measure menu is unavailable to
you even though you selected the required objects. Usually this means that some extra
things are selected that should not be. This is particularly problematic in complicated
diagrams with a large number of objects. The best thing to do if this occurs is to left-
click in an open area of your window. This un-selects everything. Then you can re-
select only those objects that you need.

Construct menu: Locate the drop-down construct menu at the top of your window.
You will notice numerous options. As before, you may not be able to choose most of
these, depending upon what is, or is not, currently selected. For example, draw a line
segment in your window and make sure it is the only object selected. What options
are available to you from the Construct menu? Try them and see what happens. See
Figure 1

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

Figure 1

i) To construct parallel and/or perpendicular lines, draw a line (ray or segment will
also work) and a point not on the line (see picture below). Make sure both are
selected. Go to the Construct menu and choose Parallel Line or Perpendicular Line.
Are any other options available to you? If so, try them and see what they do.

ii) Next draw two line segments that meet at a common vertex to form an angle. Make
sure both line segments are selected. Go to the Construct menu and look for Angle
Bisector. Notice that this option is not available to you. It appears that Geometer’s
Sketchpad expects a different collection of objects to use this option. Figure out which
objects need to be selected and then bisect your angle using the Angle Bisector. Go
back to the Measure menu and measure your original angle. Then measure the two
smaller angles to verify that your angle was indeed bisected. This activity could easily
be done using a protractor and a compass. However, now let us see the advantage
of dynamic geometry software. Left-click on one of the vertices from your original
angle and start dragging it around the screen. In the upper left corner of your window
you should see the angle measure changing as you move the vertex. In addition, the
measure of the two smaller angles are also changing. What is always the relationship
between these two angles and the original one? See figure 2

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

Figure 2

iii) Now draw a circle and plot two distinct points on the circle. Select both points and
the circle. Choose Arc On Circle from the Construct menu. Notice that there are
actually two different arcs that connect your points on the circle. Did you get the arc
that you expected? How could you obtain the other arc? Now measure both the arc
length and arc angle of your arc. What is the arc angle measuring? See figure 3

Figure 3

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

iv) Draw a circle in your window. With the circle selected choose Circle Interior from
the Construct menu. Select and de-select the interior and notice the effect. With the
interior selected measure the area inside the circle. Also, measure the radius and
circumference of the circle. Change the radius of your circle by dragging the point on
the circle (not the center) around the screen. Notice that the area and circumference
are also changing as you do this. What would happen if you were to plot area vs.
radius and circumference vs. radius from the data generated as you drag the point
around? (Later we will see how to do these plots). See figure 4

Figure 4

v) Explore the other options under the construct menu.

Activity: Supplementary Angles. This exercise shows how Geometer’s Sketchpad can
be used to make a simple conjecture. We also introduce the built-in Geometer’s
Sketchpad calculator. See figure 5
1) Draw a line segment in a new input window.

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

2) Draw a second line segment so that one endpoint of this segment lies on the interior
of the first line segment:

Figure 5

3) Measure the angles m\ABC and m\DBC. Now we are going to use the calculator.
Under the Measure menu choose Calculate... When the calculator is open left-click on
m\ABC which will be in the upper left corner of your window. In the calculator left-
click on +. Then left-click on m\DBC. Finally, choose OK on the calculator. At this
point you should see the equation m\ABC + m\DBC = 180.00 under the two angle
measures in the upper left corner of your window. See figure 6

Figure 6

4) Now drag the vertex C around. You should notice that m\ABC and m\DBC are
changing as you do this. What is happening to m\ABC + m\DBC? Make a conjecture
based on your observations.

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

5) You could also investigate supplementary angles using a straight edge and
protractor. Is this Geometer’s Sketchpad activity more or less convincing (or the
same) as the straight edge/protractor approach? Explain your answer.

Teacher Written Activity: Angle Sum for Triangles


Write a Geometer’s Sketchpad activity similar to the one above that investigates the
interior angle sum for triangles. The activity should incorporate both the dynamic
capabilities of Geometer’s Sketchpad as well as the built-in calculator.

The Geometer's Sketchpad is a popular commercial interactive geometry software


program for exploring Euclidean geometry, algebra, calculus, and other areas of
mathematics. See figure 7

Figure 7

Sketchpad working with triangle trisectors

Geometer's Sketchpad includes the traditional Euclidean tools of classical Geometric


constructions; that is, if a figure (such as the pentadecagon) can be constructed with
compass and straight-edge, it can also be constructed using this program. However,
the program also allows users to employ transformations to "cheat," creating figures
impossible to construct under the traditional compass-and-straight-edge rules (such as
the regular nonagon). You can animate objects. Also, you are able to find the
midpoint and midsegments of objects.

Geometer's Sketchpad also allows to measure lengths of segments, measures of


angles, area, perimeter, etc. Some of the tools one can use include; construct function,
which allows the user to create objects in relation to selected objects. The transform
function allows the user to create points in relation to objects, which include distance,

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PS0270-ICT IN PRIMARY SCHOOL MATHS AND SCIENCE

angle, ratio, and others. With these tools, one can create numerous different objects,
measure them, and potentially figure out hard-to-solve math problems.

Exploring Geometry with The Geometer's Sketchpad

Activities guide users as they construct and manipulate geometric figures and
discover relationships and theorems with activities covering virtually every concept
studied in high school geometry.

Chapters include: Lines and Angles, Transformations, Symmetry, and Tessellations,


Triangles, Quadrilaterals, Polygons, Circles, Area, The Pythagorean Theorem,
Similarity, Trigonometry and Fractals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JO28aiwmzg

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