Artifacts Math Adventure

Given a set of shapes that were found in some ancient ruins on a deserted island, students were asked to think like archaeologists to hypothesize what they might be and any possible uses. Possibilities suggested were: an ancient puzzle, some kind of runes, a navigation system map, a pyramid blueprint, hieroglyphics, etc. Then they were asked to think like mathematicians and document any patterns they noticed. After a lot of experiment and discussion, many students worked out that the pieces fit together into six smaller squares and then the those squares fit together into a larger rectangle. Some students started figuring the areas of the shapes using graph paper.

This was also our first time using the i-pads - everyone had fun taking pictures of their work and creating short movies. Looking forward to a lot more of this in the future!