Spirograph Activity Post
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jhicks_mathSpirograph Activity Post
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jhicks_mathFirst, I give my students this description: Spirograph Activity In this activity, we will explore an application of the greatest common
factor (GCF) and the least common multiple (LCM) using the Spirograph environment. The basic Spirograph set comes with a template with a circular hole with 48 teeth. It also comes with 7 wheels of various sizes, based on matching teeth. Those sizes are 17, 18, 22, 27, 29, 30, and 33 teeth. Using a wheel and the hole, the artist creates a flower design with a certain number of petals. 1. Using the Spirograph set, create a flower design with each of the wheels in the circular hole of 48 teeth. How many petals does each design make? 2. Explore these relationships and determine a way to figure out how many petals can be made with any size hole and any size wheel. Then I let them explore until they get something like the following table: Number of petals Number of Number of from the teeth for teeth for flower the hole the wheel design
Picture
48 hole
17 wheel
48 petals
48 hole
18 wheel
8 petals
48 hole
22 wheel
24 petals
48 hole
27 wheel
16 petals
48 hole
29 wheel
48 petals
48 hole
30 wheel
8 petals
48 hole
33 wheel
16 petals
Then I ask these questions as they proceed from their work like shown in the table: 1. Now that you have data for one size hole and seven sizes of wheels, can you answer the second question?
2. So, what is the relationship of the number of petals to the size of the hole and the size of the wheel? 3. (Hint question): Can the GCF (or LCM) help? 4. Once you know this relationship, explain how it generalizes to how we can determine the number of petals a flower design has made from any size hole and any size wheel. Any thoughts? Thanks!
