Ross, T Tech Review
Transmographer Applet
About the Applet
The Transmographer applet provides an engaging experience by providing a way for students to explore the world of translations, reflections, and rotations. This applet does this by allowing students to take figures such as triangles, squares, and parallelograms and transforming them throughout the Cartesian Plane. Thus teachers can use this applet to help students explore each transformation in depth and can also introduce compositions of transformations as well. This applet can be found by accessing the Shodor Interactive website and is free for all to use.
Standards
Content Standards:
(1) MCC9-12.G.CO.2 Represent transformations in the plane using, e.g., transparencies and geometry software; describe transformations as functions that take points in the plane as inputs and give other points as outputs. Compare transformations that preserve distance and angle to those that do not (e.g., translation versus horizontal stretch).
(2) MCC9-12.G.CO.3 Given a rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, or regular polygon, describe the rotations and reflections that carry it onto itself.
(3) MCC8.G.1 Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations: a. Lines are taken to lines, and line segments to line segments of the same length. b. Angles are taken to angles of the same measure. c. Parallel lines are taken to parallel lines.
(4) MCC8.G.2 Understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, and translations; given two congruent figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the congruence between them.
(5) MCC8.G.3 Describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations and reflections on two- dimensional figures using coordinates.
Standards for Mathematical Practices:
(1) Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
(2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
(4) Model with mathematics
(5) Use appropriate tools strategically.
(8) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
(1) MCC9-12.G.CO.2 Represent transformations in the plane using, e.g., transparencies and geometry software; describe transformations as functions that take points in the plane as inputs and give other points as outputs. Compare transformations that preserve distance and angle to those that do not (e.g., translation versus horizontal stretch).
(2) MCC9-12.G.CO.3 Given a rectangle, parallelogram, trapezoid, or regular polygon, describe the rotations and reflections that carry it onto itself.
(3) MCC8.G.1 Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations: a. Lines are taken to lines, and line segments to line segments of the same length. b. Angles are taken to angles of the same measure. c. Parallel lines are taken to parallel lines.
(4) MCC8.G.2 Understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to another if the second can be obtained from the first by a sequence of rotations, reflections, and translations; given two congruent figures, describe a sequence that exhibits the congruence between them.
(5) MCC8.G.3 Describe the effect of dilations, translations, rotations and reflections on two- dimensional figures using coordinates.
Standards for Mathematical Practices:
(1) Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
(2) Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
(4) Model with mathematics
(5) Use appropriate tools strategically.
(8) Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
Activity
Critique
How well does it work?
All in all the applet works great! Each of the buttons did as advertised and worked with great fluidity. You can transform any of the figures any way that you wish whether it is through one transformation or many with ease. The one thing I wish could be different from the applet is for the ability to build your own shapes, to adjust the scale of the graph, and to be able to see the line of reflection on the graph. By not being able to adjust the scale of the graph or have the ability to make their own figure it really limits the amount of transformations a student can do, which in turn can limit their exploration. Also by not providing the line of reflection, it can cause the students to not recognize that the vertices of the pre-image and its corresponding vertices on the image are the same distance from the line of reflection. Without the line of reflection on the screen students may not come to this conclusion.
Are the written materials well organized and useful?
The written materials are actually not showcased with in the applet. Rather they are located in separate tabs located at the top of the webpage. Of the written material provided, it is actually well written! In the help tab, the instructions on how to use the applet are well written and informative. Where the written material really shines is in the instructor tab. This tab is as it seems. It is for instructors. This tab provides useful information for instructors such as content standards from multiple standards across the country, worksheets and activities that teachers can use in the classroom, and advice on how to implement the task effectively.
What are the purposes and goals for using this technology? Does the technology reach this goal?
The goal of this applet is to have students explore and experiment with the concept of transformations in the coordinate plane in order to understand how each of them function. Based off this, I believe that the technology does reach this goal. By allowing students to individually take the figures provided and manipulate them any way they want is a clear representation of this goal. Not to mention that students can also transform each figure as a composition which adds more examples students can explore. Thus by providing many and varied examples students can make with the technology it ensures that students can build that understanding of how the three major transformations function in the Cartesian plane.
Is the technology relatively easy to use?
Once students understand the use of each button and how they work within the applet then yes, it is fairly easy to use. Since there is minimal buttons or areas to type, it allows students to begin to play with the applet right away with minimal instruction. Also the applet labels everything precisely which also helps with the use of the technology.
Does this technology enhance or extend the teaching and learning process for the intended mathematics concepts? How and why?
This applet extends the learning process by allowing students to go beyond single transformation and venture into other concepts such as compositions. This allows students to learn the basic ideas behind transformations, but also into how these transformations relate to each other through compositions. The only problem I have with this applet is again scale of the graph and figures and also by not showing the line of reflection. Also I believe that if the applet also provided a way to extend the reflection portion by allowing more than just vertical, horizontal, and y = x reflection it would improve the learning process immensely. By allowing student to reflect a figure over an actual line will provide more exploration opportunities to build that understanding.
Would you recommend this product to a school? Why or why not?
Yes, I would recommend the use of this applet. I would recommend this app mainly for how many examples students can generate for each transformation and how the applet can showcase compositions. By providing a variety of examples, it gives students a stronger sense of how these transformations work within the coordinate plane, but by also providing exploration beyond single transformations through compositions it helps extend the learning process.
All in all the applet works great! Each of the buttons did as advertised and worked with great fluidity. You can transform any of the figures any way that you wish whether it is through one transformation or many with ease. The one thing I wish could be different from the applet is for the ability to build your own shapes, to adjust the scale of the graph, and to be able to see the line of reflection on the graph. By not being able to adjust the scale of the graph or have the ability to make their own figure it really limits the amount of transformations a student can do, which in turn can limit their exploration. Also by not providing the line of reflection, it can cause the students to not recognize that the vertices of the pre-image and its corresponding vertices on the image are the same distance from the line of reflection. Without the line of reflection on the screen students may not come to this conclusion.
Are the written materials well organized and useful?
The written materials are actually not showcased with in the applet. Rather they are located in separate tabs located at the top of the webpage. Of the written material provided, it is actually well written! In the help tab, the instructions on how to use the applet are well written and informative. Where the written material really shines is in the instructor tab. This tab is as it seems. It is for instructors. This tab provides useful information for instructors such as content standards from multiple standards across the country, worksheets and activities that teachers can use in the classroom, and advice on how to implement the task effectively.
What are the purposes and goals for using this technology? Does the technology reach this goal?
The goal of this applet is to have students explore and experiment with the concept of transformations in the coordinate plane in order to understand how each of them function. Based off this, I believe that the technology does reach this goal. By allowing students to individually take the figures provided and manipulate them any way they want is a clear representation of this goal. Not to mention that students can also transform each figure as a composition which adds more examples students can explore. Thus by providing many and varied examples students can make with the technology it ensures that students can build that understanding of how the three major transformations function in the Cartesian plane.
Is the technology relatively easy to use?
Once students understand the use of each button and how they work within the applet then yes, it is fairly easy to use. Since there is minimal buttons or areas to type, it allows students to begin to play with the applet right away with minimal instruction. Also the applet labels everything precisely which also helps with the use of the technology.
Does this technology enhance or extend the teaching and learning process for the intended mathematics concepts? How and why?
This applet extends the learning process by allowing students to go beyond single transformation and venture into other concepts such as compositions. This allows students to learn the basic ideas behind transformations, but also into how these transformations relate to each other through compositions. The only problem I have with this applet is again scale of the graph and figures and also by not showing the line of reflection. Also I believe that if the applet also provided a way to extend the reflection portion by allowing more than just vertical, horizontal, and y = x reflection it would improve the learning process immensely. By allowing student to reflect a figure over an actual line will provide more exploration opportunities to build that understanding.
Would you recommend this product to a school? Why or why not?
Yes, I would recommend the use of this applet. I would recommend this app mainly for how many examples students can generate for each transformation and how the applet can showcase compositions. By providing a variety of examples, it gives students a stronger sense of how these transformations work within the coordinate plane, but by also providing exploration beyond single transformations through compositions it helps extend the learning process.
References
Shodor Interactive Activities. (n.d.). Transmographer. Retrieved from http://www.shodor.org/interactivate/activities/Transmographer/
The Common Core State Standards Initiative (2011). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.
Retrieved from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/Pages/Math.aspx
The Common Core State Standards Initiative (2011). Standards for Mathematical Practice. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/
The Common Core State Standards Initiative (2011). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics.
Retrieved from https://www.georgiastandards.org/Common-Core/Pages/Math.aspx
The Common Core State Standards Initiative (2011). Standards for Mathematical Practice. Retrieved from http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/