Louisiana State University

Instructional Models

LSU Team: Julia Porter and Tabitha Harvey Mentor Teacher: Course: EDCI 4500
Date to be Taught: School: Classroom Number:
Time to be Taught: Grade Level:Geometry Lesson Topic: Undefined terms in Geometry
Title of Lesson:
Undefined terms and basic definitions in Geometry
Description of Concepts to be Taught (include a brief summary of why the lesson is important to students):
In this lesson the student will learn about the undefined terms of geometry (point, line, distance along a line, distance along an arc). These four
notions are what make up all of geometry and are very pivotal to understanding the more complex notions of geometry. Along with these undefined
terms we will also go over some of the more basic terms of geometry. The students should already have a concept of these words, but in this lesson
they will receive a more well rounded and more accurate definition of the basic terms of geometry. These terms include: angle, circle, perpendicular
line, parallel line, and line segment.
NCTM/NSES Standards:
- GM:G-CO.A.1 Know precise definitions of angle, circle, perpendicular line, parallel line, and line segment, based on the undefined
notions of point, line, distance along a line, and distance around a circular arc

Student Learning Objectives: (SWBAT)

- list the three undefined terms in geometry
- define angle, circle, perpendicular line, parallel line, and line segment
- relate the undefined terms to the definition of the above
Safety Precautions:
- none
Advanced Preparations:
- create a ppt for explain

ENGAGEMENT Approximate Time: 15min

What the Teacher Will Do Eliciting Questions and Student Responses What the Students Will Do

lead a commit and toss of “what do you think are
the the most basic parts of geometry?” (compare to
the atom in science)
When all the answers are compiled into a bowl, mix
them up and send the bowl around and have each
of the students take one of the balls. starting from
What do you think are the most basic parts of
geometry?
- line, point, distance on a line, distance on
an arc
What is written on the piece of paper that you
have?
- line, point, distance on a line, and distance
students will participate in the commit and toss,
writing their answer on a piece of paper and
crumple it up and pass it forward to the font of the
class.
Students will pick another students’ answer from
the bowl and going around the room tell it to the
teacher. If they hear their answer prior to their turn
one side of the room have each student say what
they have on their slip of paper and the teacher will
write it on the board. If another student has the
same answer written on their paper have them also
raise their hand. the teacher will denote this by
adding a tally mark next to the repeated answer.
Introduce the concept of undefined terms: terms in
geometry that have nothing that can be broken
down, could be compared to an atom in science.
There are four undefined terms in geometry.
Have students try to guess from the list of answers
written which ones could be undefined terms.
TRANSITION
Finally tell the students the four correct undefined terms in Geometry (Point, Line, Distance on a Line, Distance on an Arc)
What the Teacher Will Do
teacher will bring in a tennis ball, meter stick, tape
measure, and a laser pointer. teacher will very
simply define the four undefined terms using the
visual of the four items above
Point: is a location or a place that has no size.
denoted by a dot
Line: a set of points that extends infinitely in 2
opposite directions
Distance of an arc
Distance on a line
on an arc (proper answer, but hopefully the they will raise their hand to let the teacher know
students have other answers too) they also have that answer.
Does anyone else have this written on their sheet
of paper?
- yes/ no
In geometry almost every word has a definition, but STudents will answer teacher questions and
there are some words that do not have definitions. students guess what the four undefined terms in
What do you think that these words are called? geometry are.
- undefined terms.
Yes undefined terms are the words of geometry
that don't have definitions. They are like the
building blocks of geometry, kind of like how the
atom in science is the basic unit of a chemical
element.
There are four undefined terms in geometry, what
do you think they could be? The answer might be
up on the board.
- point, line, Distance on a line, distance on
an arc
EXPLORATION Approximate Time: 15
Eliciting Questions and Student Responses What the Students Will Do
Which of these do you think will represent which of students will follow along with the teacher and
the different undefined points? answer students
- tennis ball (point),laser pointer (line), meter
stick (distance on a line), and Tape
measure (distance on an arc)
Let’s start describing our undefined terms. students will write down the undefined terms in their
A point has ____ dimension. (no) worksheet Worksheet link
What does that mean? (it has no height, no width,
no length, and no thickness)
It indicates a single ________. (location in space)
What does a point look like? (a dot)
What is a line?

TRANSITION
in the beginning we talked about how there are undefined and defined words in geometry. we found out that
undefined terms are what make up all other definitions in geometry. So let us try to use our undefined terms to
redefine some common known words in geometry.
What the Teacher Will Do
As a class the teacher will go over an example of
how to write a definition of a word using only
undefined terms and terms that we have already
defined in this class that are defined using the
undefined terms.
the teacher will write verbatim what the students
- what does it look like? (a long straight
mark)
- and what do we need on the end of
the picture of a line? (arrows)
- what does that signify? (that it goes
on forever)
- how many points are in the line? (infinite)
- how long is a line (infinitely long)
a line has ____ many points in a ________.
(infinite, uniform order)
A line extends in ____ dimension in ___directions.
(one, both)
What is the distance on a line?
- the measure from ____ _____ to another
on a _____ line (one point, straight)
- has measure in ____ dimension (one)
What is the distance on an arc?
- distance from two _____ along an
arc.(points)
Do you notice anything about making these
descriptions?
- it was difficult to describe the word without
using the word itself.
ELABORATION Approximate Time: 40
Eliciting Questions and Student Responses What the Students Will Do
Let's look at the definition of a ray. The students will participate in the discussion and
What is the definition of a ray? write down what the final definition of a ray is
- ideal: a line that has one an endpoint.
- let's draw what a ray is and then try to
come up with a definition for it.
- what are the undefined terms that are
say onto the board. work down the
teacher write down the finalized definition of a ray in
sentence format.
A ray is a line with a single endpoint that extends
infinitely in one direction.
The students will be split into groups of four. Each
group is responsible to creating a poster board
containing their own definitions of angle, circle,
perpendicular line, parallel line, and line segment
using only the undefined words
teacher will walk around helping a little, but the
object here is for the students to struggle a bit to
see if they can work together
teacher will mainly comment on if they are using
their further knowledge or the word itself in the
definition they are creating
If students are having a rough time have all groups
work at the same pace and give the hints or guiding
questions (middle collumb) and then have the
students work on writing out the definition.
next the students will participate in a gallery walk.
teacher will lead with time management giving each
team one minute to either approve of the definitions
or comment on the other teams’ definitions.
Students will not read comments till the end of class
present in the ray? (point line)
- Could we make that definition more
specific?
students will be split into groups of four or three. in
their groups the students should create definitions
of angle, circle, perpendicular lines, parallel line,
and line segment. The students can illustrate the
poster in wanted.
eliciting questions (not necessarily answered, but to students will have 15 minutes to come up with
redirect the students in their thinking) definitions and to write them on the poster board.
- which undefined terms are involved?
- CIRCLE: how many points are in this
shape? (infinitely) make sure to mark your
center. How far is each point on the circle
away from the center? (the same distance)
- ANGLE: you can use previously defined
things, like a ray…
- PERPENDICULAR LINES: which
undefined terms are involved? (lines,
points) what do you know about the angles
of perpendicular lines? (they are all
equivalent)
- PARALLEL LINES: what is so important
about parallel lines? (they are parallel)
which means? (they never intersect) so
they have no point of intersection? (they
have no points in common
- LINE SEGMENT: what undefined terms
are involved? (line and points) hint: This
one is very similar to the definition of a ray.
when the time is up the students will post their
posters on the classroom walls for other students to
see
students will participate in a gallery walk. the
students as a group will go to each poster and
either write a check mark, if no errors or a comment
if there is room for improvement
(post explanation) students will not look at their comments till the end
of class

TRANSITION
have students sit back down at the tables with their groups.

EXPLANATION Approximate Time: 15

What the Teacher Will Do Eliciting Questions and Student Responses What the Students Will Do

the teacher will go through a the definitions of the when going through the PowerPoint have the slide students will follow along and answer teacher
definition of the angle, circle, perpendicular line, show just the main word and then ask the students prompts and questions
parallel line, and line segment using the undefined - Did you see anyone’s poster that had a
terms. definition that you really liked?
- why did you like it?
this time should be kind of like a discussion. for - did it use any words that were not
each of the definitions give the students the word already defined?
and then ask did anyone see a definition that they then show the students the definition
think is good or that they liked? - Do you understand how you could have
tweaked your definitions to be clearer?
- How would you change your other
definitions?
repeat this will all of the defined words
the following information should be on a PPT: students will write down definition in their
PowerPoint link notebooks.
Circle: set of points on a plane that are all the
same distance away from a center point
angle: figure formed by two rays, called the sides of
the angle, sharing a common endpoint, called the
vertex of the angle
perpendicular lines: two lines that intersect and
the two angles formed by the intersection are all
equiangular. Two lines that intersect at a 90* angle
Parallel Lines: two lines in which have no points in
common
Line Segment: a part of a line that is bounded by
who distinct points
TRANSITION
students will now have the opportunity to get their comments from the definitions they created
What the Teacher Will Do
teacher will lead a discussion on the difficulties in
writing definitions in this nature and how the
students’ definitions vary or are similar to the
teacher given definition
EVALUATION
Eliciting Questions and Student Responses
How did you feel about coming up with these
definitions?
If i were to give you more words to define how
would you change your process of defining them?
How was it like to not be able to use the knowledge
that you already know?
Have you ever thought of what a circle was besides
that “a circle is a circle”?
Approximate Time: 5
What the Students Will Do
students will have a conversation about the
difficulty with this kind of definitions, negating all
previous knowledge, and how their created
definitions varies or is similar to the teacher given
definitions.
LSU Team: Mentor Teacher: Lesson Topic:

Date to be Taught: School/Room:

Time to be Taught: Grade Level:

DATE Requested for Pick-up: DATE to be returned:

TIME Requested for Pick-up: TIME to be returned:

Items Requested # Requested # Returned

tennis ball
meter stick
tape measure
laser pointer
large post it posters
markers
stickey notes

Collected by ______________________________________ Date_____________

Returned by ______________________________________ Date_____________