The prompt was devised by David Aaron (a primary teacher in Blackpool, UK) for his year 6 class. The inquiries that developed from the prompt covered, amongst other things:
angles in triangles
angles on a straight line
angles around a point
symmetry
angle properties of parallel lines
exterior angles
2-d shapes composed of equilateral triangles
the number of equilateral triangles of different sizes in the prompt.
David said: "All this in one lesson! I had to rein things in, but it personalised the learning brilliantly."
Language acquisition as the first phase of inquiry
Sonya terBorg blogged about using the prompt with her primary class in Idaho (US). The postdescribes how the class carried out a preliminary inquiry into concepts and language related to angles. The pupils then conducted an open and collaborative inquiry by applying the language acquired in the earlier phase.
Billy Adamson used this prompt (originally from the SMILE Wealth of Worksheets) with year 8 classes as an introduction to shapes and angles. He reported that the prompt led to "great exploration" (see an example below) and he "loved the energy and excitement the students displayed."
