The following resource has been kindly shared on the TES Maths website. It is available to download for free by registering. And to access all the lovely Resource of the Week (ROTW) resources, just click here

What is it?

Rotations (along with Enlargements) tend to cause students the most trouble in the world of transformations. I think this could be due to the number of skills that need to be in place in order to be successful at it: knowing co-ordinates, knowing which way is clockwise, understanding angles, having the patience to rotate each point, and having the spatial awareness to know if you are right or not. To master this concept, students need to practise it, and this lovely activity adds a bit of novelty to help hone those crucial skills. Students are tasked with the job of stopping a dastardly thief by carrying out a series of tricky rotations of various shapes.

How can it be used?

In its existing form, this is a lovely resource. My Year 8 students engaged with it, and enjoyed the fact that there is a nice self-checking element at the end when the thief should be completely surrounded. As is often the case with the Resource of the Week, extra depth and challenge can be found by flipping the resource on its head: can your students design a Catch the Thief activity? Better still, can they include some of the other types of transformations? Let their imaginations run wild, and their skills and confidence with transformations increase at the same time.

Thank you for sharing!

Craig Barton

 

Download Rotations: Catch the Thief

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