World of Tan 29 - The telephone
Can you fit the tangram pieces into the outline of the telephone?
Problem
This activity follows on from World of Tan 28 - Concentrating on Coordinates.
Little Ming and Little Fung have nearly finished their time at primary school. As they will soon be travelling together to middle school, Granma T has given each of them a phone so that they can contact her in an emergency. However, Little Ming and Little Fung love using their phones to stay in touch with their friends. They keep asking for more data, but Granma T often gets angry with them and tells them that it costs too much!
Do you know anybody who is always on their phone?
Do they use WiFi or mobile data?
Phones have changed a lot over the years! Look at this picture of a telephone from the 1950s:
How is it similar to phones we have today?
How is it different?
Complete the silhouette of this 1950s telephone:
Extra activities:
- What might Little Ming and Little Fung use their phones for? Which of these things are essential? Which of these are luxuries?
The final tangram in this series is found in World of Tan 30 - Logical Thinking.
Teachers' Resources
Why do this problem?
This problem is an engaging context in which pupils can consolidate their knowledge of the properties of squares, triangles and parallelograms. By attempting this activity, children will be putting into practise their visualising skills, making guesses about where the different shapes might go before trying out their ideas. When combining the shapes to make the tangram, pupils will use their understanding of translations, reflections and rotations to decide how to transform each shape. There are also links between tangrams and fractions, and children can be encouraged to work out what fraction of the whole square is represented by each smaller shape.
Possible approach
Read this story with the whole class and look at the tangram as a group. Ask pupils to suggest where a shape might go. What transformation would be needed to move the shape into that position?
When pupils are solving the tangram, they would benefit from working in pairs with a tablet or a printed copy of the shapes to cut out and move around. Working together will lead to rich discussions about the possible options for where each shape can go. When the children have solved the tangram, they can have a go at the extra activities.
At the end of the lesson, bring all of the pupils together and model the solution on the whiteboard. How does each shape need to be transformed? What fraction of the whole picture is each shape?
Key questions
What could you put with this piece to make a square?
Are all of the pieces different?
What's the smallest square you can make?
What has to go in that space? How do you know?
Possible extension
Pupils could have a go at other tangrams in the 'World of Tan' series. Some children might like to create their own tangram from the same pieces, or make their own tangram pieces by cutting up a square.
Possible support
Some children might need encouragement to experiment and 'have a go'. Using the printable tangram pieces will help all pupils try out their ideas.