Learning Exercise

Symmetry and Tilings: An Exploration

Students are directed to read through a Web-based tutorial on Symmetry and Tilings in the form of an short and colorful article entitled Tilings and Tesselations; afterwards, they answer several questions on tilings (tessellations), tiling terminology, types of symmetry (isometries), periodic tilings and Penrose tilings. In addition, they are given opportunity to use an interactive Java applet in which various types of symmetry can be sketched and explored in the form of wallpaper groups, frieze groups and rosette groups. In a subsequent think-pair-share activity or write-pair-share activity, they analyze some tilings and apply their newly obtained knowledge.

Course: Liberal Arts Math