I find three dimensional geometry difficult. Like, as in, I have very little spacial relation skills and find three dimensional objects hard to teach because I don't fully understand them on a deep level. Tetris blows my mind. Put it in three dimensions, and I'm fricken screwed.
(On a completely different note, I'm a master packer when it comes to moving vans or trunks. But that has less to do with spatial relation skills and more to do with learning from my Dad the countless times we had to drive across...the country.)
So when I have to teach surface area of three dimensional figures using their nets, we have multiple problems.
a) A net implies that you can actually take a 3-D figure apart and make it 2-Dimensional. WTF! I'm the girl who always has to re-cut wrapping paper because I don't have enough or trim it after I tape because I used too much. (Legit. This is the truth.)
b) Then you have to calculate various lengths based on your geometrical knowledge. OR THE KNOWLEDGE derived from a 3-D figure. Shut. The. Front. Door.
c) And then, there are cylinders.
CYLINDERS. Like, combine what you know about circles and you know about 3-D figures and put it together and create MAGIC. (Did I mention that when I wrap presents that are cylinders, I just put paper around it and tie up the edges with ribbon so it looks like a tootsie roll?)
Imagine the net of a cylinder. Wait. Don't imagine. Look at it.
Okay let's say that the radius of the base is 3 cm, and the height of the cylinder is 4 cm. One may think that there is not enough information to find the surface area of that cylinder. Boyfriend, you are wrong. Do you know what the length of the rectangle is? ITS THE CIRCUMFERENCE OF THE CIRCLE! That shit blows my mind. BLOWS. MY. MIND.
You may say to yourself, "Ms. L is partially retarded if she did not know that." This is not true. I'm not partially retarded. I'm just spatially retarded. But if this blows my mind, imagine getting 7th graders to fully grasp it. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT. I'm doubly screwed.
This picture may capture my mood better.
1 comment:
Haha...good thing you did not have to take the entrance exam for dental school. We had an entire section on spatial reasoning called the PAT. Pretty tricky stuff. I'll show you sometime and you will feel much better about cylinders, I promise. I hate all geometry...yuck.
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