Simple Protractors

If you have every spent time trying to help children to use a protractor you will know how tricky a skill it is to teach. Here's a fantastic maths resource from one of our members that takes much of the pain out of that.

Jason came up with this when he was teaching his Y4 children to measure angles. Here's how he describes it:

Basically learning to measure angles with a protractor is a nightmare on so many levels - the things goes forwards and backwards, it is split into 180 minute division, and it's curved!!! So why has no-one tried to make a simpler, basic protractor? Well here are the ones I came up with. Attached are 3 protractors that we used to progressively build up to a 'real' one.

Protractor 1: a simple right angle detector

Protractor 2: 30 degree intervals

Protractor 3: 10 degree intervals

I printed them out on different coloured OHP transparencies. They looked great. Children loved them and hey they worked!

We have included Jason's designs in the download below. There are three pages, the first all black, and two subsequent pages featuring larger versions of Protractors 2 and 3 in two colours: red and blue. To work they need to be printed onto clear acetate and cut out. 

If you have an idea for a useful, novel maths resource please contact us. 

As always, please let us know what you think of this in the comments and would also very much appreciate your Likes, tweets and Pluses!