Tesselations

Tesselations they go on for ever as the exact same pattern.

Explanation
Any patterns that never overlap and theres no holes is a tesselation it can go on forever. It never overlaps. It can consist of many different shapes, but it has to be in a pattern. Here is an example of a Tesselation.

Now, what shapes can you see in this tesselation? Squares and Triangles, right? How many of each shape are there? 8 squares and 8 triangles. Now, draw your own tesselation. When you finish go back and check if the pattern continues without breaking or leaving gaps. Are there different shapes or are they all the same? Count how many of each shape.

Math/Geometry and Spatial Sense

Standard 2: The student visualizes and illustrates ways in which shapes can be combined, subdivided, and changed (MA.C.2.3).

Objective 2: Knows how to predict and verify patterns involving tesselations (a covering of a plane with congruent copies of the same pattern with no holes and no overlaps, like floor tiles).

Amusement Park

Tesselated Park- Go to an amusement park and look for Tesselations. Are you surprised with the amount of Tesselations?

Brainstorming Fun

Tesselated Home- Look for
Tesselations in your house and
around the neighborhood. Where
did you look first? Did you expect
to find something there? Did you?

Vocabulary

Tesselation- A patern made up
of shapes that doesn't break or
overlap, or even have gaps.

Links

A great Thinkquest site entirely
devoted to Tesselations!