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MATHEMATICS: GeometrySOCIAL STUDIES: World culturesART: Two-dimensional constructions

AIM: Students analyze shapes in order to complete geometric puzzles.

BACKGROUND: The tangram is an ancient Chinese puzzle made from a largesquare cut into seven pieces. The seven pieces, or shapes, include a small square,two small congruent triangles, two large congruent triangles, a medium-size triangle,and a parallelogram. Each individual piece is called a tan. The tans canbe arranged to make pictures.

BEFORE PLAYINGActivity and Discussion: Break students intogroups of four. Give each group a simpleinterlocking puzzle and tell them that they have

three minutes to put together as much of thepuzzle as they can. When three minutes areup, ask each group to explain any tricks theyused to put the puzzle together. (Answers willvary. Examples: find the four corners first,separate the edge pieces from the middlepieces, separate puzzle pieces by colors, andso on.)

AFTER PLAYINGWriting Prompt: Ask students to explain, inwriting, how they went about solving thetangrams. Did the same tactics work for eachpuzzle? Explain.

ASSESSMENT: Observe students as they workon the tangrams. Ask them to explain what thegoal of each puzzle is and how they are workingto reach that goal.

TANGRAMS ACTIVITY

The Adventures of Josie True http://www.josietrue.c

TA-9.1

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RESOURCESThe Warlords Puzzle, by Virginia Walton Pilegard (Pelican Publishing, 2000,$14.95, ISBN 1-56554-495-1). This beautifully illustrated book tells a dramatic tale

of an artist that gives an ancient warlord an exquisite square tile. The warlord lovesthe tile, but the artist accidentally breaks it into seven pieces. The warlord warnsof punishment for the artist if the tile can not be fixed, and he offers a reward to thefirst person that can put the tile back together. To order, call 1-800-843-1724.

This sitedesigned for kidswill give your students a brief history of tangramsand provides several challenging puzzles.

TANGRAMS ACTIVITY

http://www.strongmuseum.org/kids/tangram.html

The Adventures of Josie True http://www.josietrue.

TA-9.2

ANSWERS

Before Playing, Worksheet:

After Playing, Worksheet:

(Tangrams will vary.)

http://www.strongmuseum.org/kids/tangram.html

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CONNECT TO YOUR CURRICULUM

This activity can help you meet these National Standards:

Mathematics:

Describe, extend, and make generalizationsabout geometric and numeric patterns

Represent and analyze patterns and functions,using words, tables, and graphs

Investigate how a change in one variable relatesto a change in a second variable

Build and draw geometric objectsCreate and describe mental images of objects,

patterns, and pathsIdentify and draw a two-dimensionalrepresentation of a three-dimensional object

Recognize geometric ideas and relationshipsand apply them to other disciplines and toproblems that arise in the classroom or ineveryday life

Science:

Systems, order, and organizationEvidence, models, and explanationChange, constancy, and measurementAbilities necessary to do scientific inquiry

CURRICULUM AREAS

Math: geometry: logic.Language Arts: descriptive writing.Art: building geometric objects.Technology: computer science.Science: scientific inquiry.

TANGRAMS ACTIVITY

The Adventures of Josie True http://www.josietrue.c

TA-9.3

solvinggeometric

puzzles is fun!

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Cut out the seven shapes below and arrange them (so they dont overlap!) to fitin the shaded square.

TANGRAMS ACTIVITY(Before Playing Worksheet)

The Adventures of Josie True http://www.josietrue.

SA-9.1

Name:_____________________

Date:______________________

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