RHS Geometry Classes Create Tessellation Project For Ceiling Tiles

Students in RHS Geometry classes create an art piece using a geometric shape in a repeating pattern to make a tessellation. This art process was made famous by the artist M. C. Escher in the mid-twentieth century. The tessellation is drawn on paper using one geometric shape, called tiles, with no overlaps and no gaps; only certain geometric shapes can be used in this process. In the geometry project, students can select from regular polygon shapes (squares, equilateral triangles or regular hexagons). Regular polygons are shapes with equal angles and sides. Once a student selects a shape, he/she must change its appearance by cutting away parts of the shapes and then adding that piece to another side of the shape. Once this process is complete, the tile (or puzzle piece as students like to call them) looks nothing like the original shape. Students then trace the resulting tile on paper in a repeating pattern that fits into itself. Students are asked to use their imagination in transforming the tile into an identifiable creature or object. Some of the more popular creations have been fish, penguins, elephants, and insects!

When students turn in their projects, they are asked if they would like to be considered for painting a ceiling tile to be put up in the classroom; each class is involved in the selection process by voting. This is the third year of this project and it has become one of the students' favorites!