Introduction

In the previous lessons, you have studied all about angles, as well as learned about parallel lines and angles formed by parallel lines cut by a transversal. In the coming lessons, you will learn about transformations and how figures are moved around.

  • The first type of transformation you will learn is a translation.
  • Reflections and rotations are also transformations, but you will learn about them later.

To introduce the definition of a translation, use the Translation Exploration activity from GeoGebra to complete the 8.02 Exploring Translations task.

Explore Activity text version | Open Explore Activity in a new tab

Lesson Objectives

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to...

  • Verify experimentally the properties of translations
  • Understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to another if the second can be obtained by a translation
  • Describe the effects of translations on two-dimensional figures
  • Understand that a two-dimensional figure is similar to another if the second can be obtained by a translation
  • Use graph paper and/or software to draw and identify a sequence of transformations that will carry a given figure onto another

Essential Questions

  • How can you change a figure’s position with changing its size and shape?
  • How can we identify the transformation of a figure in a coordinate plane?
  • After performing a sequence of transformations on a figure, will the resulting image have the same size and shape?

Enduring Understandings

  • Shape and area can be conserved during mathematical transformations.
  • The symmetry of polygons can be described in rotations and reflections.
  • We can use x and y coordinates to calculate translations in the coordinate plane.
  • Rotations, reflections and translations are examples that preserve angles and distances.
  • Geometric transformations are functional relationships.

The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Geometry standard: 21, 21a, 22, 22a, 22b