Tessellations are defined as a pattern of shapes that fit perfectly together, and is when you cover a surface with a pattern of flat shapes so that there are no overlaps or gaps. A regular tessellation is a pattern made by repeating a regular polygon. I have worked with tessellations in a lot of different classes. I think tessellations are a lot of fun. They let you be creative and you see different patterns within the original pattern. In MTH 495 I started working with pattern blocks to create the pattern below.
Pictured Above: Pattern created with pattern blocks in MTH 495.
Then, Professor Golden saw a different pattern within my pattern and started working with the same pattern on isometric dot paper. He kept my same pattern, but outlined it different. His pattern is shown below.
Pictured Above: Professor Golden's view of my pattern from the original pattern I created.
Then when I went home, I started working with the pattern I created in class on isometric dot paper. With the pattern I saw 2 potential patterns people could see. In the picture below you will see three patterns. The first is how the pattern blocks were colored. The second part is the same pattern just black and white. The third pattern is one that people could see if they ignore the rhombus and triangles drawn on the outside of the hexagon. On the top part of the paper, you will see the pattern formed together to see how it would look. On the bottom part of the paper you will see one big pattern block from each to see what the inside looks like.
Pictured Above: Original pattern shown 3 different ways.
This is just one tessellation that I worked with. What makes this tessellation work? What makes this tessellation work is the smooth sides. you could fill the large outside hexagon ring with triangles, rhombus, or trapezoids. The length of the edges in the different shapes always equals at least one other edge on a different shape. That is why this tessellation works! My Professor started working with this same tessellation. See his blogpost here.
I think tessellations are a lot of fun. Also, I think working with tessellations with students would be fun because they have a very creative imagination. I found a website that I would use to introduce tessellations to my students. It tells students what tessellations are and has examples of some. The website I found that would be helpful to students is called Cool Math 4 Kids.
Cool Math 4 Kids