Transformations

Time and Place

Wednesday-Friday, June 28-30

9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

at the Head-Royce School in Oakland, CA

Content

The Common Core State Standards call for a complete rethinking of geometry in grades 8-11. Instead of basing everything on congruence and similarity postulates, as is traditional, the idea is to build on a foundation of geometric transformations: translation, rotation, reflection, and dilation.

In order to teach this effectively, it is important to have a solid understanding of the underlying math, as well as ideas for rich activities for students. I have been teaching transformational geometry for twenty years, and have a lot to share. This three-day workshop will cover:

• • The implications for the teaching of proof.

  • Composition of transformations -- the four isometries and their fundamental properties.

  • Symmetry in depth -- around a point, along a strip, in the plane. Connections to art and design.

  • Computing geometric transformations with the help of complex numbers at first, then matrices -- this is the mathematics that underlies all computer graphics.

  • Transforming graphs: all parabolas are similar

  • Intelligent use of technology to support all this, including a highly motivating unit on geometric construction.

Guest presenter: Lew Douglas

This workshop does not overlap with Hands-On Geometry.

Context

Check out my big-picture analysis of the Common Core State Standards for high school math.

I am happy to offer a workshop on transformational geometry to your school or district. Contact me.