Tessellation's

Unit Topic: The Galapagos Islands

Grade Level: Middle School

Basic Concepts: Location, Space, Community

Content Areas: Math, Science, Art

Time: 1 hour

Objectives

• Students will perform a series of transformations to create a tessellation.

Activity 1

Phase 1: "A tessellation is a design covering a flat surface without overlaps or gaps. Building a tessellation may involve motion geometry of slides, flips, and turns. Tessellation's are also called tiling patterns. The study of tessellation's has numerous applications to other fields with a genuine, natural multicultural connection in the context of art" (Hatfield, Edwards, & Bitter, 1997, p. 139). Students will create their own tessellation's. Specifically, students will be creating a fish which will then "multiply" into a school of fish.

Directions: "Start with a square. Cut a section from one side and slide this cut-away part to the opposite side of the square and attach. Cut another section from one of the other two parallel sides and slide it to the opposite side and attach. (Go See First Example ) You have made a shape that tessellates" (Hatfield et. al, 1997, p. 140). See Example for Next Step

Materials: paper, scissors, tape, pencil

Phase 2: The directions in Step 3 give the general procedure. However, there are two ways in which one could create the school of fish.
See Example of End Result

A. Students could use their fish shape as a stencil and trace it on different colored papers. They would then cut out the shapes, assemble them into a school of fish design, and glue them onto a sheet of paper.

B. Students could use their fish shape as a stencil and trace it onto a sheet of paper, continually sliding it across the paper and tracing it to form the school of fish. They could then color in and decorate each of the fish.

Materials: large paper, different colors of paper, scissors, glue, tape, pencil, markers/crayons/colored pencils

Assessment: Students will be evaluated on their final product. See the following checklist. A successful student will have a "yes" for both criteria.

Extensions:

1. Students may wish to study the work of M.C. Escher, an artist famous for tessellation designs. Students could search the Internet or the library for information on the artist.
   
   
2. Students may wish to design tessellation's with other ocean shapes or other shapes in general.
   
   
3. Students may wish to study tessellation's in art. Mosaics and tile patterns are filled with tessellating designs.

Resources:

Hatfield, M., Edwards, N.T., Bitter, Gary G. (1997). Mathematics methods for elementary and middle school teachers. Boston: Allyn and Bacon. [0-205-19149-5]

Other Suggested Resources (*denotes "youth-friendly"):

• Cole, J. (1992). The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor. New York: Scholastic Inc. [0-590-41431-3]

  Mrs. Frizzle and her class take a trip to the ocean bottom, stopping on the way to explore the mysteries of the deep.

• Council for Environmental Education. (1992). Aquatic Project Wild. Bethesda, MD: Author.

  Interdisciplinary activities dealing with aquatic and marine environments. Each lesson includes objectives, method, background information, materials, procedure, extensions, and evaluations. Excellent resource for teachers.

Checklist for Tessellation's

Name _______________________

Did the student complete the assignment? Yes ____ No ____

Did the student understand the concept of a tessellation? Are there no overlaps? Are there no gaps? Yes ____ No ____

Comments:

Checklist for Tessellation's

Name _______________________

Did the student complete the assignment? Yes ____ No ____

Did the student understand the concept of a tessellation? Are there no overlaps? Are there no gaps? Yes ____ No ____

Comments:

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