Connecting Math to Art
Possibly for students the most surprising connection to math is art. These resources are proof of that connection through fractals, architecture, tessellations, tilings, and 3-D geometric figures. Some sites are like art galleries—just for visiting, but others involve students in creating their own artistic designs. All involve significant mathematics!
A former mathematics teacher created this unit for middle school students. The lessons begin with a discussion of why we study fractals and then provide step-by-step explanations of how to make fractals, first by hand and then using Java applets. But the unit goes further; it actually explains the properties of fractals in terms that make sense to students and teachers alike. Excellent material! MSP full record
Galleries of fractal images are found at this site. Be sure to view Fractal Images by Noel Giffin. The mathematics behind the images is not explained, and would be beyond middle school level even if it were, but the art is truly awesome. Just realizing that each image is created through a mathematical process is amazing in itself. MSP full record
Here you will find math crafts, such as string art and paper polyhedra, explorations of symmetry and polygons, and an interactive visit to Tessellation Town on Tile Island. The site also offers math games, number stories, and even an art gallery for students' submissions. Most activities here are for the younger end of the middle grades but you'll find interesting lesson ideas even for the older students. MSP full record
Math-Kitecture, this site announces, "is about using Architecture to do Math (and vice versa)." The main activity for students is creating a floor plan of their classroom to scale—not a novel idea, perhaps, but here each step is explained and illustrated, from sketching the classroom to making a scale model. Students can also find geometric shapes in buildings and structures, walk through a three-dimensional model of a Frank Lloyd Wright house, and design a dream bedroom. For teachers, the site includes links to other architecture lesson plans, background information on elements of design, and examples of architecture worldwide. MSP full record
What would you expect to find in a mathematics museum? Here you find a variety of galleries worth browsing. The Sangaku (Japanese Geometry Temple Problem) exhibits examples of theorems in Euclidean geometry, each produced as beautifully colored drawings on wooden tablets. Another gallery shows a movie clip or lets you travel through a 3-D fractal. Others that may interest your students are a gallery of Japanese geometric wallpaper patterns and a gallery of rotating geometric surfaces. MSP full record
If you are looking for examples of the golden section in the arts, you will enjoy this collection of historical information on its use in the works of Da Vinci, the design of Stradivari's violins, and even modern architecture. Links to illustrations show the golden section at work. This is part of the incredibly rich site The Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section. MSP full record
Tessellations and Escher have become practically synonymous! This web site examines the mathematics behind his complex drawings. You will find many examples of Escher's work, each illustrating mathematical principles such as the tessellations and polyhedra that are common building blocks of his drawings. You may feel the mathematics is beyond your students' interest, but seeing how Escher transformed basic designs into intricate artworks is worthwhile for students at every level. MSP full record
These colorful images, created by Mathematica software users around the world, provide your students a view of 2-D graphics, polyhedra, and other mathematically-generated art. Most can be enlarged on the screen and even rotated. All in all, it is an impressive connection between mathematics, science, and art. MSP full record
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Copyright
October 2006 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work
supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this
material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of
the National Science Foundation.
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