Topic: Exploring Quadrilaterals

Grade Level Category: 7-12

Strategy: Open-Ended Questions

Purpose for the Assessment:

1. To understand various types of triangles
2. To discover the quadrilaterals: parallelogram, kite, rhombus, rectangle, and square
3. To understand the concepts of parallel and perpendicular sides, as well as how to indicate them on a diagram
4. To familiarize the students with the properties of quadrilaterals

Materials Required:
Paper, scissors, ruler
Work in a group of four students

Description of the Activity:
The students will build quadrilaterals from congruent triangles. They will find the perimeters of each triangle and quadrilateral they create. They will use the proper notation for parallel and perpendicular sides and indicate these concepts on their diagrams. Students will summarize the findings of their groups in writing.

Reproducible Page(s):
Exploring Quadrilaterals

Scoring Rubric:
Scoring Rubric for Exploring Quadrilaterals

Extension(s):
Make three different trapezoids by joining three congruent triangles. Find the perimeter of each trapezoid.

Management Tips:
This exploration took approximately 90 minutes for the students to complete. Be sure to emphasize their summaries include conclusions from all triangles, even those the other group members worked with. Be sure to help group members in forming the different polygons and share all results with everyone in the group. The summaries will vary, but the same data is used by each group member. To shorten the classroom time, have the summaries written outside of class.

Reference(s) of Source(s):
Integrated 1 Mathematics, McDougal Littell/ Houghton Mifflin, Boston, MA., 1995.



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