Spiral of Pythagoras year 4

For the fourth year in a row, students practiced the Pythagorean theorem and exercised their creativity with this art project. I first heard about “wheel of theodorus” from yummy math and this year I’m calling it Spiral of pythagoras in hopes that kids remember the name of the Pythagorean theorem. Last years blog post of student sample work seemed to go viral:

Year 3 of the Wheel of Theodorus project, and Ss knocked this @Yummymath out of the park. https://t.co/XoaefTDWI9 #MTBoS pic.twitter.com/y0cqK6A8Wx

— Martin Joyce (@martinsean) June 3, 2017

This tweet shows the first step:

The best teaching days are introducing this project to my Ss in class and them finishing at home. Showing samples from my pinned tweet is motivating. Index cards FTW making right angles. Now calling it spiral of Pythagoras. We do this as a class then they finish. #MTBoS pic.twitter.com/4Cnec9YkZd

— Martin Joyce (@martinsean) May 4, 2018

I only did the above with students through a conversation on co-constructing it. This year, using index cards for making perfect 90 degree right angles and realizing that 4 spaces on an index card equal exactly one inch helped students create more accurate constructions. Showing students the work from the last two years once again inspired many students to reach new heights. Some even used water colors at home to decorate it! A few forgot that I didn’t want them to erase the calculations unless they wanted to put it in the back. One student emailed me his work so he could erase it and continue his design! The following are samples from some of the students in my 4 8th grade classes.

Monarch butterfly. Amazing.

rubber ducky

3 students did a parrot and this one stood out the most.

A little inappropriate but I’m hoping it’s from an innocent intention.

fierce woman

brilliant

groovy

Wood saw. Very creative.

Finger painting! The texture of her fingerprints was a cool effect.

Sebastian from Little Mermaid!

Cool! Prawn?

I don’t know what’s going on but it’s awesome.

This student forgot his name. Then I looked at it and it reminded me of Indian culture, and I assumed that this was the flag of India. I was right, it was his! He’s proud of his culture.

This concerned me a bit, because I’ve heard of some people using this symbol for white supremacy. But, I talked to the student and he did this to represent this game/prank which students play against on each other.

She made a carriage for my daughter to be Amelia!

This armadillo rocks.

Panda eating bamboo.

This sea turtle is amazing.

Spartan helmet?

Amazing.

This blew me away. The water colors make it look like space.

Another Little Mermaid fan.

I wonder if they play an instrument and which one….

I continue to look for more ways to incorporate #mathart into my curriculum. Students design their names using vertical, horizontal, and diagonal lines and graph it on Desmos to be prepared for 3D printing, and I still want to do more. I want to do that same process but with transformations also. I have submitted a speaker proposal to both CMC’s and CPM for the 3D printing process with 8th graders. Stay tuned for that.