Geo-Fashion:  What are you wearing?

Driving Question:  What aspects of geometry can be identified in fashion and advertising?

Grade level: 4th grade

TEKS:

Math 

Objective 3: Demonstrate an understanding of geometry and spatial reasoning

          4.8 - identify and describe attributes of geometric figures using geometric language

          A. identify/describe right, acute, and obtuse angles

          B. identify/describe parallel and intersecting (including perpendicular) lines using pictorial models

          C. use essential attributes to define two and three dimensional geometric figures

          4.9 - connect transformations to congruence and symmetry     

          B. use translations, reflections, and rotations to verify that two shapes are congruent

          C. use reflections to verify that a shape has symmetry

English/Language Arts/Reading

(14)  Reading/Media Literacy. Students use comprehension skills to analyze how words, images, graphics, and sounds work together in various forms to impact meaning. Students continue to apply earlier standards with greater depth in increasingly more complex texts. Students are expected to:

(A)  explain the positive and negative impacts of advertisement techniques used in various genres of media to impact consumer behavior;

(B)  explain how various design techniques used in media influence the message (e.g., pacing, close-ups, sound effects)

          (19)  Writing/Persuasive Texts. Students write persuasive texts to influence the attitudes or actions of a specific audience on specific issues. Students             are expected to write persuasive essays for appropriate audiences that establish a position and use supporting details.

Background:  This is a 4th grade interdisciplinary unit that focuses on the identifiable attributes of geometry seen in fashion and advertising.  In math, students will  begin by discovering the attributes of two-dimensional and three-dimensional shapes and transformations, specifically focusing on the language of geometry.  While in Language Arts, students will begin discovering what is behind the advertisements that they see everyday.  Students will tie their learning together by analyzing advertisments for idenifiable attributes of geometry.  To culminate the unit, students will apply what they have learned about geometry, fashion, and advertising to create a fashion portfolio.  Students will create a clothing line with accessories, logo for their clothing line, and  an advertisement to convince consumers to buy their clothing or accessories.  

Rationale:  At the elementary level, many students view geometry as something that is done at school, but has no relationship to the real world.  Students do not see the meaning behind having to know the different attributes of shapes because they have not yet clearly connected geometry to things they see everyday beyond the classroom.  Through this unit, students will start making these connections through fashion and advertising, which is a part of their daily life.  Once students can see the connections to the world around them, geometry will become more meaningful and relevant to them.  This will increase student learning now and in years to come.