Tangrams
Tom's Math Lessons || Tom's home page
Tom Scavo's
Tangrams
Tangrams are a puzzle that helps develop spatial-visualization skills, but they may also be used to introduce or reinforce geometrical concepts such as congruency, similarity, symmetry, and so forth. This unit for grades 4 through 6 uses tangrams to compute the area of polygons without formulas. In the process of doing so, the terms congruent and similar are introduced.
Constructing Your Own Set of Tangrams
Acknowledgments
- The Math Forum graciously provided the environment and resources that made this project possible. Sarah Seastone was especially helpful.
- Thanks to Suzanne Alejandre for a critical reading of the paper version of these lessons, valuable suggestions, and numerous pointers into the online literature.
- The lesson Constructing Your Own Set of Tangrams is modeled after the article "How to make the 7 pieces of a Tangram" by Karen Tobler.
- My son, Brian Scavo, produced a seemingly endless flow of geometric constructions using tangrams, some of which will be seen on these pages. Now if only I had time to convert more of Brian's cool drawings into computer images!
[Privacy Policy] [Terms of Use]
Home || The Math Library || Quick Reference || Search || Help
The Math Forum is a research and educational enterprise of the Drexel University School of Education.