Exploring Pyramids

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

These discursive prompts are a great way to hook children into an idea or activity. They tend to draw out what children know and the language they use to explain it. You might be surprised what they know and/or can observe about the Great Pyramid from a book or internet image, especially if there are people in the foreground to give its size some context. It is always interesting at this stage of an exploration to record 'what we know now' and compare it to what might be discovered during, and after, planned experiences. It is also a great time to ask children what they wonder, or would like to know about this pyramid. Recording these deepens the potential of your journey together!

 

What shapes can you see?

This prompt can focus observations on the two dimensional faces of the pyramid that children can see and maybe name. This might be the names of the shapes of the faces (triangles) or the base (in this case, a square). Asking children if they can see other squares and triangles around them will help develop their conceptual understanding, particularly if they can identify triangles (for example) that are similar but not exactly the same. This is also a great opportunity for children to use gesture to explain their ideas - they may make a triangle shape with their fingers, or try to show how a 3D object like a pyramid looks by shaping their hands. 

 

How does it feel?

Having an example of a pyramid there for children to pick up helps them connect what they are seeing with the mathematical features, and how they feel. This could include running their hand along the faces (and base), running their fingers along the edges, and touching point where the edges meet (the vertices). Prompting children to describe how the pyramid feels will assist you to build on this language. The younger children are, the less formal their language will be. 

 

How could we make our own pyramid?

This prompt generates great possibilities in terms of using materials to represent their thinking and wondering. You might use playdough, loose parts, cardboard and sticky tape, or pre-made resources like polydrons which still require construction. It is the construction process that is important. Using playdough for example, requires children to try and form the 3D object with the shape of the faces (including the base) in mind. They may bang the object on the table to make the faces flat and pinch the edges and vertices so they are sharp. Asking children about how they are making the pyramid and why they are doing it that way promotes the mathematical processes of explaining and reasoning.

Pipecleaners and/straws could also be used to make pyramids but these materials tend to require much more dexterity and greater abstraction in terms of understanding the faces of the object are implied.

 Having an object they have made also allows children to manipulate it, promoting actions like looking at 3D objects from different points of view: above, below, at each side - and describing how this changes what they see. They could augment this experience by taking photos and comparing what they notice with other children who had made their own representation of a pyramid.

And a pyramid doesn't have to be small. It could be quite big, using larger materials that the children could sit or stand in! They might even try to represent a pyramid collaboratively with their bodies.

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How could we record what we have found and made?

Asking children to record their ideas via mark making/drawing will deepen their understanding of how pyramids are structured. This may be free hand or with the use of isometric dot paper (generally for older children). Children who are able to write or use technology to record their understanding might use words like flat, sharp, pointy, faces, edges, vertices, triangle, square, and base in explanations of their drawings.  

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Where to next?

Making pyramids using a range of materials and construction strategies intentionally provides opportunities to use appropriate mathematical language, an important aspect developing their conceptual understanding (see Concepts and Processes). A one-off visit to the pyramids may be fascinating but we know we learn more, and often see the same things differently when we go again. Planning a series of experiences to explore the mathematical properties and possibilities of pyramids will deepen children's understanding and promote transference to other types of pyramids, and 3D objects. This building may also be via fictional texts that immerse children into a story - another creative and impactful strategy to explore mathematical ideas.