It really helps children understand angle if it is described as a measure of turn. By Year 5 children should already be able to recognise acute and obtuse angles. This is taken further in Year 5 where degrees are introduced. A degree is a unit of measurement for turn and has been used since the second century BC. A Greek astronomer, Hipparchus of Rhodes decided to divide a circle into 360 small units, each one we call a degree and it caught on quickly and has been with us ever since.

Whilst 360 might seem a strange number to choose it has a great many factors; 360 can be divided by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 18, 20, 24, 30, 36, 40, 45, 60, 72, 90, 120, 180 and 360. This means it is easy to equally divide a circle in many different ways.

Children will begin by exploring a full turn of 360 degrees and then half and quarter turns of 180 degrees and 90 degrees.

Our latest sets of worksheets all look at understanding degrees as a measure of turn. Why not take a look now?