Tag Archives: spiral

Teaching fractals

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Fractal Heart Tree

With printable activity

Reading my children the book Swirl by Swirl: Spiral in Nature yesterday sparked my interest in fractals.  I watched the PBS program Nova: Hunting the Hidden Dimension last night and honestly, fractals might be the hardest concept I have tried to understand!  The video does a great job of explaining in layman’s terms. Even so, throughout the program, I vacillated between glimpses of understanding and wonder and confusion bordering on terror!  If you are interested in learning about fractals, I highly recommend you watch this program.  I found it to be a very fascinating way to spend an hour and a great introduction to fractals! Continue reading →

Fractals

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Spiral shell

We just got through reading Swirl by Swirl: Spirals in Nature, a wonderful picture book written by Joyce Sidman with beautiful detailed scratch-board illustrations by Beth Krommes.  The illustrations are bold, colorful, and full of texture.  It is about reoccurring shapes in nature specifically the spiral.  The book show many examples, explains some of the functional benefits (for example an animal might curl up in a spiral to conserve heat), and celebrates the inherent beauty of spirals.  At the end it also explains spirals as mathematical patterns.  Continue reading →