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Contribution to Book
The Treatment of Transformations in K-8 Geometry and Measurement Grade-Level Transformations
Variability is the Rule : A Companion Analysis of K-8 State Mathematics (2011)
  • Sasha Wang, Michigan State University
  • John P. Smith, III, Michigan State University
Abstract
The concept of transformation has fundamentally reorganized the structure of school geometry in the last 30 years, changing the focus from studying the properties of static figures (e.g., congruence and similarity) to examining of the nature of mappings that relate figures and construct key geometric properties. This reorganization, like any fundamental change in the school mathematics, has led to changes and likely, some difficulties for teachers, mathematics supervisors and coordinators, and parents whose own geometry coursework made little to no mention of transformations. When confronted with views of geometric content structured by transformations (e.g., in mathematics textbooks), they could sensibly ask: "What's so important about transformations (since I did not learn about them), and how do they relate to the geometry that I know?" If such basic questions about the role of transformations in school geometry are likely, even for some teachers, an examination of how transformations, both distance-preserving and shape-preserving, are treated in the states' K-8 geometry and measurement content standards could be helpful, informative, and even instructive. This chapter explores that potential.
Disciplines
Publication Date
2011
Editor
John P. Smith
Publisher
Information Age Publishing, Inc.
Series
Research in Mathematics Education
ISBN
9781617351976
Citation Information
Sasha Wang and John P. Smith. "The Treatment of Transformations in K-8 Geometry and Measurement Grade-Level Transformations" CharlotteVariability is the Rule : A Companion Analysis of K-8 State Mathematics (2011) p. 41 - 70
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/sasha_wang/1/