Translations with Geogebra

Unit planning for transformations is almost complete.  We have a set of notes/practice worksheets from the county office of ed (really great!), an FAL (Transforming 2d figures), and a common test.  The next step is thinking about how to use Geogebra to help with demonstrating the concepts and with practice.

There are a few different ways you can use Geogebra to look at translations.  The first way is to use a vector to translate a point or a figure.  The diagram below has a point and a polygon, so my next step will be to add a translation vector anywhere on the screen.  It doesn't matter where you put the vector.  You can find the vector tool under the dropdown menu for lines.

 For this example I'll use a vector to translate my point/figure 3 units right and 2 units down.  You can see the vector below, at the origin.

It might make more sense for students to see the vector starting at the point that will be translated, but then you need to construct a new vector each time if you want to stay consistent.  If I put the vector away from my diagram, I can use it each time I want to translate an object, and explain to students that the translate tool works by selecting the object first, then the vector that describes its translation (see pic below, located in a dropdown menu).

The diagram below shows my point and my polygon after translation.  Notice how the program automatically names the points in the image using the prime notation.

If you want students to focus on using the coordinate rule (x,y) -> (x+3,y-2), then you can do the transformations without using a vector by making use of the coordinates of your pre-image point(s). Before you give this a try, it is best to open a new window and add point A.  The way Geogebra names the coordinates of point A is (x(A),y(A)).  To translate point A 3 units right and 2 units down, create a point with coordinates (x(A)+3,y(A)-2).  Create this point by typing into the input bar at the bottom of the screen.  Better yet, give this new point the name A'.

Select the "move" tool, then drag point A around and watch how point A' moves.  Another helpful strategy is to turn the trace feature on for both points.  Do this by right clicking on the point and selecting "trace on".

Make sure the "move" tool is selected, then drag point A and watch as point A' follows along and traces out a figure that is congruent but translated 3 units right and 2 units down.  To clear the traces from the screen, type ZoomIn[1] into the input bar at the bottom of the screen.  (This command zooms in your screen, making it 1 times as large as it was before.  Clever trick to get the traces off the screen).

Geometers Sketchpad has lots of presentations on transformations that can be viewed on the Dynamic Number Project website.  My understanding is that students can access these presentations with the Sketchpad Viewer on an iPad.  I haven't thought too much yet about how I can use these in my class.  We don't have Sketchpad, and we also don't have ipads for each student.  For now I am trying some of their ideas on Geogebra, though I have to admit the experience isn't as smooth.  One strategy that Sketchpad uses is to attach a point to the perimeter of an object.  Geogebra has a similar tool, which is an option in the dropdown menu under polygons.  Make sure you have the object and a point created first.  Then when you select the "attach/detach point" tool select the point first, then the object to attach it too.  I found out the hard way to select the interior of the object.  By selecting the perimeter of a polygon, the point was confined to the line segment that created that side only.  

Once I had point A attached to the polygon below, I dragged point A to the edge and around the perimeter.  This created a congruent the congruent shape in orange traced out by point A'.

More to come on transformations with Geogebra as I prepare for a Thursday meeting.

Links you may find useful:

Geogebra Tools from Making Math Visual blog.
Geogebra Wiki.  Includes tutorials on how to get started with Geogebra.
Some Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Using Geogebra.
More practice with Transformations