Designing Math Figures and Shapes with M$ Products

March 22, 2006 8:15 PM

Help me, please, with creating shapes, symbols and figures for teaching math class.

I teach 6th-grade math and like to create my own worksheets and transparencies. Sometimes I need to design figures (such as circles, parallelograms or angles) with text (dimensions, directions, etc.) and layout multiple shapes on a page. I typically use standard Microsoft Office software (Word, Excel, PowerPoint). Any tips on the best way to create these? (By best, I mean sharp-looking, easy to make and manipulate.) Thanks....

posted by msacheson to education (4 comments total)

In Word, go to Insert -> Picture -> AutoShapes. That should bring up a little toolbar with buttons for drawing different things.

Choose the line tool (first on the left I think) and click and drag on the document to make a line. You can also double click on that line to bring up its options. Under the Size tab, you can change Rotation. Third from left is the shapes tool where you can pick different polygons and whatnot. Click and drag whatever you draw to move, resize, etc.

The Help documentation for Word is pretty helpful, too. Good luck to you!
posted by nessahead at 8:22 PM on March 22, 2006

For Geometry and similar areas, The Geometer's Sketchpad is a wonderful app that many schools use (Mac or PC). You can build interactive figures and manipulate them on screen, or create static ones and print them out.

If you have a Mac or have access to one, OmniGraffle is a wonderful tool for creating diagrams of all sorts. They have a discount educational price. It's one of those apps that you buy without quite realizing what you're going to use it for, but once you have it, you use it all the time.
posted by zachlipton at 9:42 PM on March 22, 2006

There is a nice little program called Inkscape available at www.inkscape.org which will allow you to make all sorts of shapes with vector images. I am a complete dolt when it comes to programs of this sort, but Inkscape is easy enough that I was able to make some cool drawings. And, it is free!
posted by phewbertie at 5:01 AM on March 23, 2006

Dr. Geo is a free program for Linux that is like the Geometer's Sketchpad. You could get a free Ubuntu Linux CD if you want to try it out.
posted by mbrubeck at 9:16 AM on March 23, 2006