Geometric Puzzles

rep-p

Henri Picciotto

My first projects as a curriculum developer came out of my interest in recreational math, especially geometric puzzles. This turned out to have a big impact, directly or indirectly, on almost all my subsequent work. Here are some links.

On this site

Free

About
Geometric Puzzles in the Classroom is my main article on this topic.
Puzzles in Math Education provides a philosophical framework.
In Geometric Puzzles Unit, I suggest a sensible path through some of the below.
Books (free downloads)
Polyomino Lessons
Pentomino Books
Supertangram books
Geometry Labs is not exactly a puzzle book, but it includes many puzzles.
Web pages, applets, and PDFs
Pentominoes home page
Virtual Pentominoes
Pentomino Labs
Supertangrams home page
Supertangram Labs
Using the Geoboard (links to many puzzles)
Other
Pythagorean Puzzle
Virtual Tangrams
Tearing tangrams
Rep-tiles
Map Coloring
Symmetry Handouts (mirrors, scissors, pentominoes, pattern blocks)
A puzzle approach to Geometric Construction
Cutting Out Hearts, by Katherine Paur
Blog posts
Supertangrams
Convex Tangram Polygons
Polyarcs in the Classroom by Meghan Lee
Minimum Polyomino Cover
Inscribing Squares in Polyominoes

Not free

Plastic supertangrams (More info.)

Top

Elsewhere

A recording of an online workshop on tangrams and pentominoes.

Pentomino Activities, Lessons and Puzzles a classic from the 1980's, (going out of print, but possibly still available from mheducation.com, item # 0884883744).

Working with Pentominoes (from didax.com) — book and ebook which can be projected and includes onscreen manipulable pentominoes.

Geometry Labs Drawing Template (from enasco.com) Useful for rep-tile explorations, tiling, and more.

Zome Geometry (from Zometool), which I co-authored with George Hart, is not exactly a puzzle book, but it includes many puzzles.

Top