Math Art – Parabolic Curves – Collaborative Project

A ‘Fun with a Ruler’ math/art project that involves drawing parabolic curves (curves that are made by drawing a series of straight lines).

This project involves your students ruling straight lines between dots on a template. When they have finished drawing all the lines they can give their artwork some colour. Alternatively, your students could draw the design using different coloured pens.

Each student completes a piece. Join the pieces together to make an eye-catching display (see image for example).

Included:
♦ Student template (black or grey dots)
♦ Example
♦ Instructions
♦ Display suggestions
♦ Teacher notes

Level of Difficulty:
Your students need to be able to use a ruler to draw straight lines between 2 points (the curves are made with straight lines … it’s like magic!). The designs can look more complicated than they actually are. Concentration is required, but the actual process is not difficult.

Instructions:
Simple, clear, easy-to-follow instructions are provided. One instruction per page (image and a sentence). Display the instructions via a data projector if you have access to one. Otherwise print and enlarge them and/or demonstrate on an enlarged template.

Equipment:
You need a ruler and a pen (black works best). Something to colour with (eg coloured pencils, watercolours, felt tip markers, chalk pastels, dye, etc)

Size:
Each piece is approximately 18cm x 18cm. Designed on A4 size paper.


More of my ‘Fun with a Ruler’ resources available in my store.


Keywords: string art, math, geometry, patterns, parabolic curves


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© Suzanne Welch Teaching Resources