Grade 6 - Shape and Space (Transformations)

The sub-organizer contains the following sections:
Prescribed Learning Outcomes
Suggested Instructional Strategies
Suggested Assessment Strategies
Recommended Learning Resources

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will create patterns and designs that incorporate symmetry, translations, tessellations, and reflections.

It is expected that students will:

create, analyse, and describe designs using translations (slides) and reflections (flips)
draw designs using ordered pairs in the first quadrant of the coordinate grid, together with slide and flip images

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SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Although many Grade 6 students are capable of dealing with abstractions, the main focus of these activities is still on concrete and pictorial experiences. Through the use of models, students develop the concepts necessary to make abstractions and generalizations. The study of tessellations is particularly good for developing transformation concepts.

Display examples of tessellation designs in the classroom (wallpaper, Escher posters, fabric samples). Have students, working in small groups, move from sample to sample and, for each sample, make a prediction about the transformations required to create the pattern. Discuss which strategies were used to design the pattern.
Have students create their own tessellating shapes by modifying a basic geometric shape, such as the square.
Have students explore more complex translations using tessellation software.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

Students reveal their understanding and ability to apply transformations when they respond to challenging design problems. As they create constructions and pictorial representations and explain their work, they provide evidence of their knowledge and skills.

Collect

Analyse and respond to student designs in terms of the degree of sophistication shown. For example:
- the number of sides modified
- the complexity of the transformation (slide, flip, combination of movements)
- design elements, use of colour and detail

Peer Assessment

After students have created a design, have each present his/her work to a partner. Encourage partners to ask questions and offer positive comments about the designs. Remind them to use correct spatial terms to help clarify their meaning. Then have students write descriptions of their partners' designs in their learning logs, using a framework such as the following:
- Description of my partner's design: ____________.
- Ways my partner's design and mine were the same: ____________.
- Ways in which they were different: ____________.
- Things I learned from listening to and interviewing my partner: ____________.