When you put a puzzle together, how do you approach the first few pieces? Most people, geometry students included, begin with the edges of the puzzle. Then you can start to put the whole picture together inside.
Mrs. Petersen introduced flow proofs by encouraging geometry students to assemble a puzzle, think about how they did it, and transfer those skills to proofs. Start with the given, identify the goal and get those two written down in the proof. Then start to assemble the steps inside of the proof. It does help to have a picture (of the puzzle) while you are working on the proof! Label the important pieces along the way.
Students can solve proofs with a variety of methods such as paragraph, two-column and flow. Typically the favorite is a flow proof.
