top of page

Olympic Mathematics - Surfing or skating around angles for Year 3-5

Story:


Surfing and skateboarding made it into the Olympics! Hang ten man! The trick with these sports is that it is all about those sweet, sweety angles dude. Show us what you got.


Whole-class modelling: Use real-life objects whenever possible. Here the teacher has set up degree benchmarks (90, 180, 270, 360) and is using a real skateboard to rotate, with students contributing how many degrees each turn represented:


Tools:

  • Either a mini tech-deck (if students have one at home) OR just draw a surfboard/skateboard for 3 minutes at the start of the lesson.

  • Protractor.


Main event


With your teammate watching, rotate your board around on a grip mat.


Your teammate's job is to judge your round.


What angle did you rotate?


For assistance, set up a little post-it note with degree benchmarks written on it at each quarter (90, 180, 270, 360), like a mini version of the whole-class modelling shown in the photo above.


If your teammate describes your rotation correctly, they score a point. Next, your turn to rotate and their turn to work it out.


Pro tip: Mark the front tip of the board with an arrow, so you can follow that end with your eyes.


Extension 1: Go beyond just 90, 180, 270 and 360. Try in between angles and use a protractor to check. Any estimate within 20 degrees is still correct for point-scoring.


Extension 2: Describe the rotations as fraction as well. For example, 90 degrees is a 1/4 turn. Record that too. Even for less obvious ones or close ones, give it a go, such as 60 degrees as 1/6, or anything closest to 60 degrees as 1/6 of 360 (because 6 sixties make 360, so 60 is 1 out of 6 parts of 360).


Extension 3: Go beyond one full rotation - it's the finals! Try 540, 720, and even full rotations + parts of another rotation. Pay attention closely - it's easy to lose track with multiple full turns.


Recent Posts

See All

Comments


bottom of page