Tessellation Tip

In order to keep them from crawling up the walls in their last week before summer vacation, I've given my seventh graders a tessellation project.  There are about ten million youtube videos explaining how to do this, so I won't bore you with the basics.  Instead, I'll just tell you about my struggles and how …

Geometry in the Real World

Whenever I'm working on geometry with my students, I try to keep the focus as real-world as possible.  So much of math operates in the abstract; geometry, by contrast, is thoroughly tangible.  This is a time when we can easily and naturally give ideas to the hand before we give them to the mind.  Take …

Geometry Across the Curriculum

I use geometric drawing across the curriculum in several projects.  Below is an in-progress shot of an 8th-grader's design for a stained glass window, an assignment from my medieval history unit that incorporates symbolism along with geometric design. In world history, we use geometric drawing when studying Roman and Islamic mosaics, and students have the …

Construct a Hexagon

The construction for a regular hexagon is a favorite of my students every year and the one most of them choose as a basis for their geometric design project.  We are simply going to begin with a line and use our compass to draw three congruent circles along it.  Start with the center circle. Mark …