ABSTRACT
The concepts of compass directions and angles are closely connected. In the National Curriculum right angles are first introduced in Year two and compass directions in Year three. The four primary compass directions (North, South, East, and West) are at right angles to each other. Initially north should be the direction in which a compass needle points and the direction towards the North Pole. South is the direction of the sun at midday. The east-west line is at right angles to the north—south line. The standard unit for measuring angles is the degree. A complete turn is 360° The Babylonians used a number system with a sixty-base and appeared to use the approximation of 360 days in a year. In the early stages of learning about angles children should be introduced to terms such as half-turn, quarter turn and full-turn.
