We had the pleasure of collaborating with Thomas Moore of EngageME Mathematics on an animation of one of the fifteen tessellating pentagons, Tile #15. Thomas is a graduate student pursuing a PhD in Mathematics Education in Melbourne, Australia who also is an accomplished public speaker and graphics designer.

Here’s our animation – We LOVE it! Pentagon Tile #15 animation.  because it shows how the 12 piece primitive unit is formed with tile reflections, and group rotations and its beautiful, and it uses our own Michelle Tat’s artistic interpretations.  See our presentation to MoMath Family night on all fifteen tessellating pentagons and the 100 year story behind it.

At EngageME Mathematics, Thomas has turned an old skill with making GIFs into a great way to introduce and teach critical mathematics concepts. The only question we need to ask students is “What is happening here?”   Teachers can select an animation of a mathematical relationship to show students that can spark ideas, and generate  observations, questions and discussion.  Here’s a recent one on long division.

There’s an opportunity to subscribe to see new GIFs on the FaceBook page: https://www.facebook.com/EngageMEmathematics/

Here’s one of the reviews:  “Who gave you the right to make my day awesomer?”

You can also go to the EngageME webpage for more information.