Drawing with Coordinates

In the Drawing with Coordinates activity, students will create their own designs by plotting coordinate pairs on paper. They trade their list of coordinate pairs with a partner, who attempts to recreate the original image to see how accurate their algorithm was. Students then enter the same list of ordered pairs into the Coordinate Drawer web app and explore how changing points and reflections affect their designs.

For Google Docs links, please visit https://www.ctlessons.org/math/drawing-with-coordinates.html

This lesson is centered around my Coordinate Drawer web app: https://www.ctlessons.org/apps/coordinateDrawer.html

This can also be leveraged as a Chrome app on Chromebooks:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coordinate-drawer/edemlnoljaljcajkpjhgmbaldhkfifgo

Topics addressed:
Identifying coordinates of a point
Graphing coordinate pairs on the coordinate plane

Primary CT concept: algorithmic thinking. Students are effectively writing a simple algorithm with their series of ordered pairs, and they will begin to understand that the computer running their algorithm (whether it’s their partner or the web app) only understands the exact algorithm they’ve input.

Students will be able to:
Create artistic designs by plotting and manipulating coordinate pairs
Understand that computers perform the exact series of steps we input, even if we meant something different

Prep:
Install Coordinate Drawer Chrome app on students’ Chromebooks (through Google Admin console), provide a link where they can install the Chrome app from, or provide a link to the web app. If you are not using Chromebooks, you must use the web app. It is possible to run this activity without the app, if you do not have devices for students.
Print the worksheet single-sided, such that students can share the second page independent of the first

Suggested lesson breakdown:

Students can self-pace through this lesson, but you might suggest or loosely enforce the following chunks:
5min – introduce the activity
5-10min – Step 1: students brainstorm and create a shape using only straight lines
5min – Step 2: students plot and connect coordinate pairs to recreate their design
10-20min – Step 3: students identify and list all of the coordinate pairs needed to recreate their design, keeping in mind that the order each pair is connected in is critical to the algorithm
10-20min – Step 4: students swap second pages with a partner, and each attempts to follow the other’s algorithm by plotting the coordinate pairs and connecting them in order. If students are self-pacing, have two students swap as soon as they are ready to move on.
20-30min – students use the Coordinate Drawer app to recreate and manipulate their designs and/or to create new designs

For further information and relevant standards, please visit https://www.ctlessons.org/math/drawing-with-coordinates.html