Search - The Standard Deviants - Geometry, Part 2 on DVD

Geometry - Part 2 by The Standard Deviants

Carol Frizzell | Mississippi | 06/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you have trouble visualizing Geometry, this is the tape for you. It is entertaining as well as informative. A lot of fun watching and learning at the same time. I recommend it for any grade from middle school on up."

It would make an effective tool for home schooling

Charles Ashbacher | Marion, Iowa United States(cashbacher@yahoo.com) | 03/18/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Geometry is one of the most visual areas of mathematics, which makes it a natural for video presentation. This is the second in a series of two about geometry and the topics of this tape are: polygons, quadrilaterals, the n-gon geometric figures, convex and concave regions, theorems about parallelograms, similar figures, triangle congruence criteria, the Pythagorean theorem, special angle triangles, perimeter, the properties of circles, the area congruence postulate, area formulas for 2-D figures, surface area formulas for 3-D figures, and volume formulas for 3-D figures. It is not necessary to have viewed the first tape to understand this one. All that is really needed as background knowledge is an understanding of the terms such as angle, line etc.

The presentation proceeds in a very deliberate way, using animated clips to explain the results or computations. For example, when computing the surface area of a figure, the animation highlights each of the segments of the figure as the formula is constructed. Seeing the proofs of the theorems animated is a very powerful way to convince students that they are correct and how proofs are developed. Several different young people serve as narrators of the action; they are all attractive, which will appeal to young viewers. The presentations are easy to follow and there are review segments for some of the most difficult concepts.

The tape is targeted at the high school/early college audience and is an excellent supplementary learning tool for geometry. It would make an effective tool for home schooling as well. Done right, visual animations are a very effective way to teach geometry and in this tape, they are done right.



Published in Mathematics and Computer Education, reprinted with permission."