Intro to Points, Lines, Planes
First, state the definitions to students in student friendly language. (source: http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ )
- A point lives in the 0 dimension. It has no size and no shape. It only has a location.
- A line lives in 1 dimension. It has no thickness. It extends infinitely in both directions.
- A line segment is a finite portion of an infinite line. It has two ending points.
- A ray is a half-infinite or "half-line" with a starting point and no ending point.
Next, have students watch the video, The Dot and The Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics based on the book by Norton Juster. This is an award winning cartoon from Chuck Jones which was completely hand drawn! Tell students that while watching the cartoon, they must determine if the dot is really a point and if the line is really a line. They must use the definitions just presented in class and support their reasoning.
Take a look at my blog if you are interested in my student's responses.