Lesson 1 : Tangram

When I was given the tangram pieces, and was asked to solve the problem to make a rectangle using the tangram pieces, I tried to make a rectangle using as many tangram pieces as possible. I explored with the tangram pieces, by fixing the pieces together using the trial and error method. There are a mixture of shapes - square, triangles of 3 sizes (big,medium,small) and parallelogram.  

Dr Yeap got us to make a rectangle using the tangram pieces, and I managed to create a rectangle rather quickly as there are no specific number of pieces i should use.

With the specific number of pieces I should use in order to create a rectangle, require much logical and critical thinking skills. As i need to try and foresee which tangram pieces I can used in order to fit into a rectangle.

I managed to create a rectangle using ...

3 pieces tangram

4 pieces tangram

This is a 5 tangram pieces to make a rectangle. This was the easiest to do as i just made a square with 2 triangles and created a mini rectangle using 2 small triangle and 1 parallelogram.

When figuring what other ways to make a rectangle. I found out that there are actually other ways to make a rectangle using, 5 tangram pieces. And I have found 2 more other ways to create a rectangle using the tangram pieces.

 

This is the 6 tangram pieces 

And the 7 tangram pieces in which all pieces are used !!

The children need to know what is a rectangle, and how does it looks like, to do this activity. Through this activity, the children will be able to understand that shapes can be rotated, and in regardless of he orientation, a rectangle is still a rectangle. Children were also given the opportunities to explore with shapes and needed to be challenged with complex solutions - can you make a rectangle using all of the tangram pieces? This will definitely push the children to a whole new level ! When I ask myself this question, I thought it was impossible. But nothing is impossible, is a matter of whether would you want to do it. As I started doing the 3 pieces tangram, and advancing to the next piece and finding other ways to make a particular number of tangram pieces to form a rectangle, it gives me a sense of satisfaction and achievement. And it almost felt addictive to just solve the solution.