Geometry – Help My Child Classify Shapes

By Stuart Ackerman

     The key to classifying both 2-D and 3-D shapes is to categorize them.  Students must first be familiar with the properties and characteristics of shapes in order to organize them into categories.
 
     For example, let's take a trapezoid.  Students must be aware of the fact that a triangle has certain characteristics and properties. 
 
     A trapezoid has:
 

·         four sides

·         one pair of parallel sides

·         two pairs of congruent angles

·         two acute angles and two obtuse angles

      Students should be familiar with the properties of shapes, such as: sides, angles, parallel sides, and congruency.  Students can then classify shapes according to these properties in a Venn diagram or a chart.  
 
     When classifying shapes in a chart, students must decide on the categories for classification (e.g. sides, angles).  If students decide on classifying shapes in a Venn diagram, they must decide on 3 categories for classification (Venn diagrams consist of two overlapping circles whereby items can be placed in only 3 parts: in part of one circle, in part of the second circle, in the middle of the two circles).  For example, the three categories in a Venn diagram could be 1) More than 4 sides   2) Parallel sides  3) Both.
 
     Students must have a good understanding of shapes in order to classify them into categories.

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