Tessellations 


Some parts of this assignment were taken from Suzanne Alejandre's Web Unit on Tessellations. Please go to her page, take a look around, and send her mail telling her you visited her site. She would enjoy hearing from you. Explain why you are visiting her page and what it has to do with your math assignment.You will be completing this work on a Macintosh computer using HyperCard. It may be possible to complete this activity on a PC but you need to check to see whether your drawing program has the "Trace" command. If the command is available, then you can use that program.
The results of your work should be printed out instead of being emailed, and you will need to keep a copy of the end product on a floppy disk - next month we will learn how to send pictures over the Internet. (Doing this activity on a Mac will help in saving a lot of time in the future.)
Let's Get Started
Step 1
Open up HyperCard and create a new document. Call it "Tess-your name" (for example, Tess-Sarah).
Step 2
Using the rectangle tool, draw a black square. If the shift key is held down as the "rectangle" is drawn, it will make a square. If you are using HyperCard, you can double click on the rectangle tool and it will colour automatically. (Avoid using colours other than black and white unless you have a colour printer.)
Step 3
Click on the lasso tool. Start at the top of the square. Holding the mouse button down, move the mouse towards the bottom of the square, wiggleing the mouse around as you go, and exit the lower corner of the square. Keeping the mouse button down, go back to the top position where you started; then let go of the mouse. (The square will now be in 2 parts with one half looking as though it is shivering.)
Step 4
Hold the shift key down and slide the shivering (highlighted) chunk over to the edge of the piece that is not highlighted. Position the moved chunk on the side, leaving no overlap and no gaps.
Step 5
Repeat the process, but this time go from top to bottom or bottom to top.
Step 6
Use the pencil or paint brush (with the white pattern selected) to decorate the figure. Do not add anything to the outer edges of the silhouette.
Step 7
Use the lasso and position the figure higher up on the card. Hold the option key down, click on the shape you have made, and slide the figure to the right or left, away from the original object. (In HyperCard this is a faster method to copy/paste if work is being done on only one card.) You now should have 2 objects on the card.
Step 8
With one of the black figures still selected, go to "paint" in the menu and select "trace edges". The result is a white version of the black figure.
Step 9
Using the lasso, hold "option" down and "copy" by sliding one black figure to the side. Lasso the white figure, hold "option" down, slide a white figure off and fit it into position up against the black figure. (Hint: If it does not fit perfectly, review Steps 1 - 8 and try again.) Continue this procedure until you have created a tessellation.
When you have finished, save and print your work. Keep a copy of the original file on a floppy disk, for futue use.
Step 9
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