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Students Explore Math Transformations From Around the World
Students color mandalas as part of their math transformation stations at SMS.Students compare kaleidoscopes at the reflection art station while learning math transformations.Students create barn quilts as part of a lesson on math transformations.A student creates a kente cloth while participating in stations about math transformations.A student works on a barn quilt creation as part of a lesson on math transformations.Students learn how to make kente cloths as part of a lesson on math transformations.Students learn about reflective art in a lesson about math transformations.Students create kaleidoscopes as they learn about reflective art.
Mrs. Huyck, an eighth grade math teacher at Shaker Middle School, collaborated with Ms. Weimer and Ms. Phillips in the library, to teach students about how math transformations(translations, reflections, dilations, rotations) exist in other cultures around the world. The students participated in a two day station activity where they interacted with six separate stations. Each station was designed to give the students some historical background on the culture and still have time for a “hands-on” activity that allowed students to interact with the transformations.
The stations included:
Station 1: Mandalas (Asia) Station 2: Barn Quilts (US) Station 3: Kente Cloths (Africa) Station 4: Origami (Japan) Station 5: Reflection Art/Kaleidoscope(Scotland) Station 6: World Flags
Three kente cloths created by students in a lesson on math transformations.Five finished products created in a lesson about math transformations.Students created handmade kaleidoscopes in a lesson on reflective art.
After the station activity, where students were able to “dip their toes” into transformations, they then had to create their own cultural math transformations. Students were encouraged to get creative and draw, sew, design, or weave an example of a cultural transformation. The 8th grade students created spectacular barn quilts out of balsa blocks, wove kente clothes from fabric, designed and colored intricate mandalas, produced their own kaleidoscopes with reflective art, and even replicated world flags on poster boards.
Students color mandalas as part of their math transformation stations at SMS.Students create barn quilts using balsa blocks.Students work together to color in a mandala.Students use balsa blocks to create barn quilt designs.Students work together to weave fabric to create a kente cloth.A student learns about reflection, rotation, translation and dilation using world flags.Students learn about Japanese origami and try their hand at creating their own pieces.Students work together to create a beautiful mandala.Students learn about math transformations using world flags.
