Geoboards Lesson Plan I

Objective:

• tessellate a variety of shapes
• learn how flips and rotations affect both a shape and its tessellation
• discover that some shapes tessellate better than others
• see that shapes can be joined to form other shapes

Procedure:

1. Display these shapes on a Geoboard. (the shapes that appear at the bottom)
   
2. Ask children to use their Geoboards to show how many of the triangles will fit inside the square if none of the triangles overlap.
3. Once the class agrees that eight triangles will fit, have volunteers display their solutions.
4. Using either the children’s work or your own, point out some different ways the triangles can be arranged to fill the square.

On Their Own
(use the figures that are shown at the top)
How many copies of a shape can you fit on your Geoboard?
• Pick one of these shapes with your
partner.
• See how many of that shape you can
fit on your Geoboard. Shapes must
fit snugly with no gaps between them.
Shapes cannot overlap each other.
• All your shapes must be exactly the
same. If you are not sure, make a
cutout of the shape and use it to
check the others.
• Record your work on geodot paper.
• Repeat this process with each of the
other shapes.
• Compare your shapes. Be prepared to
discuss what you noticed.

Questions to Ask Students:

1. Do any solutions have the same number of shapes? Why do you think that happened?
2. Why do more copies of shape _____ fit on your Geoboard than shape _____ ?
3. What shapes left the most unused space on your Geoboard? Why?
4. Can you combine some shapes and think of a pattern that will allow you make up a bigger picture?