standard_description: Represent transformations in the plane using, e.g., transparencies and geometry software; describe transformations as functions that take points in the plane as inputs and give other points as outputs. Compare transformations that preserve distance and angle to those that do not (e.g., translation versus horizontal stretch).
problem_activity: Activity
This activity informally introduces reflections, which appear in addition to some translations and rotations (that were introduced informally in the previous lesson). Students are given a 6-frame cartoon showing the change in position of a polygon. As in the previous lesson, they describe the moves, but this time there are reflections, which may seem impossible as physical moves unless you allow the shape to leave the plane. Students identify the new moves and try to describe them.
After the end of this activity, the three basic moves have been introduced and the next activity will introduce their names (translations, rotations, and reflections).
Launch
Keep students in the same groups, and maintain access to geometry toolkits. Give students 5 minutes of quiet work time, and then invite them to share their responses with their group. Follow with a whole-class discussion. Tell students that they will be describing moves as they did in the previous lesson, but this time there is a new move to look out for. Recall the words the class used to describe slides and turns.
Representation: Develop Language and Symbols.
Create a display of important terms and vocabulary. During the launch, take time to review terms that students will need to access for this activity. Invite students to suggest language or diagrams to include that will support their understanding of moving, sliding, and turning.
Supports accessibility for: Conceptual processing; Language
Student Facing
Here is another set of dance moves.
[IMG]
Describe each move or say if it is a new move.
Frame 1 to Frame 2.
Frame 2 to Frame 3.
Frame 3 to Frame 4.
Frame 4 to Frame 5.
Frame 5 to Frame 6.
How would you describe the new move?
Student Response
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Anticipated Misconceptions
Students may see a reflection as a translation especially since the figures are not on the same frame. Ask these students to trace Frame 2 on tracing paper. Is there any way to turn it into Frame 3 by sliding it? What do they have to do to turn it into Frame 3? (They have to flip the tracing paper over, so, this is a new kind of move.)
In describing reflections, students may confuse the terms horizontal and vertical. Consider posting the terms horizontal and vertical with examples in your room.
Activity Synthesis
The purpose of this discussion is an initial understanding that there is a third type of move that is fundamentally different from the moves encountered in the previous lesson, because it reverses directions. Some possible discussion questions to help them identify these are:
“How is the motion from panel 2 to panel 3 different than the ones we discussed yesterday?”
“Is there anywhere else that happens in this cartoon?”
“What features of the image help us to see that this move is happening?”
To help answer these questions, tell students to pay attention to the direction that the “beak” of the polygon is pointing, left or right. Draw a dotted vertical line in the middle of Frame 2, and say, “Here is a mirror. The polygon in Frame 3 is what the polygon in Frame 2 sees when it looks in the mirror.”
[IMG]
Demonstrate using tracing paper or transparencies to show they are mirror images. Then ask students if there are any other mirror lines in other frames. For the second reflection, from Frame 5 to Frame 6, point out that the mirror line is now a horizontal line: in Frame 5 the beak is pointing down, and in Frame 6 the beak is pointing up, with the head on the right of the body in both cases. Contrast this with a rotation through 180º, which would put the head on the left of the body. Demonstrate with tracing paper or transparencies.


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