Metropolitan Museum of Art
Islamic Art and Geometric Design
After an overview of Islamic traditions and art, young artists create their own geometric shapes and patterns using only a straightedge and a compass.
National Gallery of Art
Islamic Art and Culture
Provided by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, this resource for teachers examines Islamic art, including calligraphy, arabesques, and geometric designs. A recounting of the spread of the faith and the tumultuous political...
Curated OER
Middle Eastern Geometric Art
Students examine how Islamic artists represented their beliefs in logic and order through the geometric patterns in their art works. They analyze star patterns in Middle Eastern designs, and create geometric patterns using geometric shapes.
Curated OER
Geometry and Islam: Religious Beliefs Made Visual
Students examine the importance of geometric patterns in Muslim countries. Using cutout patterns, they replicate the designs seen in Islam and color them. They put their completed designs on a bulletin board to show to the school.
Curated OER
Middle-East Reflections
Practice symmetry and patterns with this Mid-Eastern art project. Your class will create beautiful, reflective mosaics that will brighten up the classroom! A list of necessary materials is included.
Curated OER
Inked Geometric Mandalas
Fifth graders gain an appreciation for mandalas in many cultures. Compare and contrast designs from many cultures. They see geometric design in mandalas and become aware of symmetrical balance and radial balance. They create a mandala...
Curated OER
Textured Pottery using Self-Hardening Clay and Multicultural Design
Young scholars create textured pottery. In this multicultural arts lesson, students follow step-by-step directions to create textured pottery with a multicultural design out of self-hardening clay.
Curated OER
Magnificent Mandalas
Students examine the principle of radial symmetry and apply it to an original mandala design. They draw a design using organic and geometric shapes, repeating the design symmetrically around the paper.
Curated OER
Grade 5: Testing for Tessellations
Fifth graders use formal geometric language to describe polygons (and other shapes) that will tessellate the plane and those that will not. Students make generalizations about the characteristics of a polygon (or other shape) that will...
Curated OER
Discovering Math: Concepts in Algebra
Students learn that speed is a function of time and distance, a quadratic equation can be used to figure out the path of fireworks, a photographer can use Algebra to figure out how many rolls he can afford if he needs twice as much of...
Curated OER
Tantalizing Tessellations - Lesson I
Students complete a chart (KWL) as a pre-assessment, study the history of tessellations (tilings), investigate the properties of tessellations, and make and evaluate photographs of "found tessellations" for a PowerPoint/HyperStudio...
Curated OER
Fitness
Fourth graders determine how to design regular and semi-regular tessellations of the plane. They develop the ability to demonstrate why a tessellation covers the plane in this series of lessons.