Parabolic Art

Example of completed parabolic art.

 The school I work at does not offer drawing in the high school. The only art offered is native crafts but too many of my students want to draw.  They draw whenever they can.

So I decided that during the final quarter of the year, Wednesdays would be "Art Day" but it would be mathematically based art.  I looked around and found Parabolic Art.  The big difference between what I'm having the kids do and what is found on the internet is I have my students draw whatever they want in the center just like the big one at the top.

The first step is to create a square.  I told the kids 6 inches by 6 inches.  Then have them mark dots every 1/4th of an inch.  Already the students are

practicing measuring in small increments.  My students have trouble using a ruler and this is going to give them practice.

After the dots are marked, they will start drawing straight lines from the corner to the first dot as seen in the picture next to this paragraph.

They will connect the next dot with the dot above the end side.  Every time, they will draw a line that starts further left or right and ends further up until they've reached the top.

When they are done, they will see a beautifully curved line with a unique perspective to the resulting squares.  This is where many people stop because its finished the purpose of the lesson.

I went had the students repeat the process through three more times so they had a parabolic curve on each of the four sides.  When completed, there was an empty space in the center.  This is the area, I gave the students to draw anything they wanted. 

One student completed theirs and they loved the process.  The others are having a great time creating the lines using a different color for each section.  It looks like two eyes crossed at 90 degree angles.

You don't have to have all four corners colored, you can have them do two and have a bigger space.  Some of the students did this back in elementary school using thread and cloth.

This picture was created using the x and y axis for the coordinate plane using the same technique. 

I subdivided the axis into smaller units and ran straight lines from one end to the next, just like I did in the rectangular example above.

I colored in some of the boxes to make it more interesting and then drew some flowers around the creation.  I love the open space so students can make the art totally theirs. 

There are other shapes that I am playing with at home right now.  I promised Kiki, I would write something up on this. 

When I've figured out more designs and shapes, I'll share them.  In addition, next month, I'll be working with the second grade to create pi based cityscapes.  There is no reason, we can't throw in mathematically based art occasionally for students who would rather create art than solve equations.

Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.