When using the Geometer's Sketchpad it is often better to "start from sketch, not from scratch". That is, give students a premade sketch rather having them build something from nothing (as many textbooks would have you do). One of the advantages of doing this is that the bulk of the time spent on the software is actually doing math rather than building something. In this sketch students can practice their knowledge of estimating the square root of numbers up to 500. There are several levels of difficulty: perfect squares up to 100, perfect squares up to 500, square roots up to 100 and square roots up to 500. The intent was that this was built as a practice file for grade 8 students but grade 7 students could use it to practice perfect squares.
- Gr7NS - represent perfect squares and square roots, using a variety of tools
- Gr8NS - estimate, and verify using a calculator, the positive square roots of whole numbers, and distinguish between whole numbers that have whole-number square roots (i.e., perfect square numbers) and those that do not
- All that is needed is the electronic download (below)
- Note that this really works well on an iPad using the Sketchpad Explorer App (which is free)
- You can also use this on any web based computer (or Chromebook) with this Web sketch
Watch the video below to see how the sketch works
- SquareRootNumberlineGuesser.gsp (iPad/V5)
- Web sketch here
- For more sketches like this go to my full page
Did you use this activity? Do you have a way to make it better? If so tell us in the comment section. Thanks
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