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Lesson Planning Sheet Title: Regular Polygons Learning Objectives: By the end of the lesson: All students should be able to construct a regular polygon using a pair of compasses and a straight edge. Most students should be able to discover the sum of the exterior angles around a polygon. Some students should be able to discover the sum of interior and exterior angles around a polygon Keywords: Polygon, Regular, Construct, Edges Learning Activities Starter/Introduction To introduce the idea of regular polygons the class can work in pairs or small groups to categorise a collection of shapes. To promote a variety of approaches pose the task simply as it is with little to no additional guidance. Have the groups present their categories to the class for discussion. If needed, review the activity using the categories regular polygons, polygons and non-polygons. At this point define the term regular as all sides equal in length and polygon as any shape with straight edges. Development The development phase is intended as an investigation into the interior and exterior angles by having the class construct regular polygons inscribed within a circle. This typically takes a two hour lesson to complete. To begin, students construct a circle and its radius. For an equilateral triangle, the circle is split into three (since a triangle has three sides) equal sectors with points marked along the circumference of the circle. The points along the circumference of the circle are joined together with chords to create the triangle. Students measure and make note of the interior and exterior angles. To construct the exterior angles each edge of the triangle is extended in a clockwise direction. Repeat this process for all the regular polygons up to a decagon if time allows. The Geogebra file in additional resources could be used to illustrate construction. Plenary The plenary is used to review the findings of the lesson. Use the Excel Spread sheet or the table on slide four to input the measured interior and exterior angles for each polygon. Have the class consider the exterior angles of each shape by calculating their totals. They will find that all the sum of all the exteriors for each polygon is 360 degrees since they rotate around a circle. Therefore, given a number of sides a single exterior angle can be calculated. The class then considers the relationship between the interior and exterior angle and how they join to make a straight line and therefore have a sum of 180 degrees. From this, the total interior angles for any polygon can be calculated. Differentiation More able: Students could work in pairs to help the less able for peer support. Less Able Students may need support to accurately construct the polygons. Resources: Mini-whiteboards Card Pairs of Compasses Protractor Pencil Interactive Geogebra File Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet