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A nice touch at the end of the presentation is to offer a few suggestions of what could actually happen in the classroom with pre-algebra, algebra and geometry students.
Certainly, one good way for students to begin their work with Dr. Super's Triangles would be to explore the very activity outlined in this presentation for teachers.
A good extension or follow up activity might be to invite students, perhaps in teams of 2-4, to design their own Triangle Monsters, using a larger number of Dr. Super's Triangles. Their monsters could be traced on paper, colored and displayed in the classroom, perhaps for parents night.
And, of course, students could be asked to find the area and the perimeter of their own Triangle Monster in terms of a and b.
Spending a few moments displaying or mentioning the three books available for Dr. Super's Triangles might be appropriate in some settings. Show the cover of the book, Dr. Super's Triangles: Algebra Explorations. The books contain a wealth of mathematical topics that can be presented to pre-algebra, algebra and geometry students and could be a valuable resource for students as well as teachers. Some of the topics covered in the books are:
A. Dr. Super's Triangles: Algebra Explorations -- writing word sentences about relationships; translating sentences into algebraic statements and equations; FINDING lengths of sides of geometric shapes in terms of a and b determining equations for areas of triangles and rectangles; finding areas and perimeters of triangles and rectangles; graphing linear equations, determining line slope and y intercepts; a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem.
B. Dr. Super's Triangles: Symmetry Explorations -- determine horizontal and vertical axes of symmetry; build and record 2, 4, and 8 piece mosaic designs; work in teams to find the total number of 8-piece mosaic designs; create mosaic designs with a given number of mirror images, axes of symmetry, etc.; explore mirror and rotational images; define 180 degree rotation and negative images; prove various transformational equalities.
C. Dr. Super's Triangles: Fraction Explorations -- construct a fractional pattern that shows given fractions; explain why 1/2, 4/8, 6/12, 9/18, and 12/24 are equivalent; complete factor tables for 1/8, 1/18 and 1/24; create repeating designs that cover given fractions; perform addition and subtraction of fractions; model multiplication and division of fractions; determine the greatest common fractional factor of two fractions; determine the least common multiple of 2 whole numbers; relate the least common multiple of whole numbers to the greatest common fractional factor of two fractions; make and use a Babylonian Accordion and table to do fractional arithmetic.
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