Max Maths, Year 6, Learn together, Quadrilaterals (4)

In an engaging activity from the Max Maths Year 6 curriculum, students explore the properties of quadrilaterals through a hands-on task. Samir, a character in the lesson, constructs a square using ice-cream sticks and pins, providing a tangible example for students to understand geometric shapes. After forming the square, Samir manipulates it by pushing in opposite corners, altering the shape but maintaining the lengths of the sides. This transformation demonstrates to the students that although the sides remain equal in length, the internal angles are no longer right angles, and instead, the opposite angles become equal.

The activity leads to the discovery of a new shape known as a rhombus. The students learn that a rhombus is a type of quadrilateral with specific characteristics: all sides have equal length, opposite sides are parallel, and opposite angles are equal. This is exemplified by the notation AB // DC and DA // CB, which indicates that sides AB and DC are parallel, as are sides DA and CB. Additionally, the angles at vertices A and C are equal, as are the angles at vertices D and B. Through this practical exercise, students gain a deeper understanding of the properties that define a rhombus, differentiating it from other quadrilaterals such as squares, where all internal angles are right angles.