Silbernagel

In the past few weeks, 8th-grade math students have been working on Geometry concepts, including transformations.  Transformations are a way to change a figure by moving it around or creating a similar figure that is a different size.  We see these transformations all around us in architecture, art, video games, and nature.

The 8th-grade students were able to take these new concepts and create a few different projects to show their understanding.  In the first project, they chose a polygon and transformed it three times using translations, reflections, and rotations.  Many chose to use this as an art project as well as bringing out their creativity.  The second project involved using the idea of dilations to create a word of their choice.  Many chose their names, but a few were able to create interesting pieces of art.

Math is about patterns, relationships, and much more than adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing.  Teaching students to see beyond the “formula” to really understand how math plays a part in our everyday lives is our goal.  Math can be fun and creative and is much more than a timed test.  Hopefully, our students are learning to be more comfortable and confident with learning math by allowing them to show their understanding through creative ways!

Students chose different words that were important to them, such as their name, Soccer, and Math.  We displayed their work in my room for several days before they were able to take them home.