“There is an angle in the humming of the strings; there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”
Geometry is a subject that many students find difficult, yet others may find it enjoyable to study. Nevertheless, it is taught to kids from a young age for various reasons, the most crucial of which is that it is used in everyday life. Students need to have a solid understanding of this idea.
Learning geometry becomes imperative for students as it has many practical applications. Angles, a crucial component of geometry, are present everywhere around us. Many of the patterns we encounter in our everyday lives have them as a component of their basic structure. They can be found at home, in school, or in the neighborhood. Despite their relative rarity in everyday life, reflex angles are an important concept in geometry and have many practical applications.
A glimpse into the world of reflex angle
Reflex angles are always larger than straight angles, which are half circles (180°), and smaller than full circles (360°), which are wide angles. Reflex angles always have an acute, obtuse, or right angle on the opposite side of them which can easily be observed.
Reflex angles are all around us, and we may readily perceive them. Here are a few instances of reflex angles that we see regularly.
1. Hands of a clock
The clock’s hands make an angle of 270 degrees in a clockwise orientation, which is greater than 180 degrees and less than 360 degrees. Therefore, the angle created between the clock hands at 9 o’clock is a reflex angle.
2. Pizza
Pizza, an Italian cuisine, has quickly become more well-known. To eat a pizza, we follow the accepted procedures for eating it. We sometimes use a cutter to slice the entire circular pizza into identical-sized triangles, usually cutting them into more than four slices to create the illusion of extra servings. When we remove one slice of pizza, all the other pieces come together to form a reflex angle.
3. Pieces of cake
We celebrate our birthdays by cutting a cake, a long-standing tradition in western culture and particularly popular with kids. The cake is divided into multiple portions and served the same way as pizza. Like when we take a piece of cake out, the entire thing forms a reflex angle.
4. The Chinese Fan makes a reflex angle.
Most of the time, kids like playing with toys and gear that make them feel adrenaline-pumped. Most toys are produced in China, giving them distinction and a sense of origination from China. When the highly well-known Chinese fan is opened, it generates a reflex angle more significant than 180 degrees and provides wind power and a cooling effect in hot weather.
5. A Pac-Man measures a reflex angle
The popular PC game Pac-Man from the 1980s is now accessible on mobile devices. It is a video game in which Pac-Man, a ball-shaped character, consumes every dot in a maze. The Pac-Man’s mouth expands at a tremendously wide angle, more than 180 degrees, to consume every dot.
6. The exterior angle of the letter V
The foundation of any language, which is also helpful in geometry, is the alphabet. As can be seen, the outside of the “V” creates a reflex angle that is precisely opposite the acute angle, which is less than 90 degrees, where the lines are united. Children can better remember the prevalence of acute angles thanks to the alphabet since they are used frequently in speech and writing.
Angles can be fun! More ways to teach about angles
Finding a unique approach to teaching kids to recognize simple angles and to calculate and recognize other angles configurations? Here are some entertaining yet important angle games for kids and some of the favorite teaching tools you can use to help pupils comprehend reflex angles.
1. Examining Letter Angles
This is an easy technique to introduce angles to children that has practical applications. They should use a ruler to make the first letter of their names.
After that, use the ruler to draw arbitrary lines inside their letter and color as they choose. The next step is to locate as many angles as possible and measure each one! This angling activity is simple, enjoyable, and produces stunning results.
2. Door and masking tape
Begin by sticking a piece of masking tape to the door at a height that is easily accessible to the students.
Have the students use a protractor to measure the angle formed by the masking tape and the edge of the door. Once the students have measured the angle, have them record the measurement in their notebooks. Repeat the process with a few different pieces of masking tape, measuring different angles formed by the tape and the edge of the door.
3. Drawing angles
Have students draw a series of angles using a protractor and a straight edge. For example, they could draw a reflex angle, a right angle, and a straight angle and exchange their sheets with their peers to check, measure, and compare the sizes of the angles. This activity can help students understand the difference between the various types of angles and how to draw them accurately.
Conclusion
Children may find it challenging and perplexing to detect angles, but an ideal technique may significantly influence them. Children might find learning entertaining and engaging with the correct tools and humor, for example, using methods of gamification like online games and activities to teach about angles can act in children’s favor.
Additionally, discovering angles in the real world will encourage students to study mathematics as a core subject. For pupils to discover the various angles of the world, teachers only need to pick the proper perspective.
An engineer, Maths expert, Online Tutor and animal rights activist. In more than 5+ years of my online teaching experience, I closely worked with many students struggling with dyscalculia and dyslexia. With the years passing, I learned that not much effort being put into the awareness of this learning disorder. Students with dyscalculia often misunderstood for having just a simple math fear. This is still an underresearched and understudied subject. I am also the founder of Smartynote -‘The notepad app for dyslexia’,