Transformations and Illusions1
Students will have the opportunity to explore geometric transformations in a piece of M.C.
Escher’s artwork after learning to identify and draw reflections, translations, and rotations of
figures.
Suggested Grade Range: 7-12
Approximate Time: 1 hour
State of California Content Standards:
Mathematics Content Standards Grades 8-12: Geometry
2.2 Know the effect of rigid motion on figures in the coordinate plane and space,
including rotations, translations, and reflections.
Relevant National Content Standards:
Mathematics Common Core State Standard: 8.G
1. Verify experimentally the properties of rotations, reflections, and translations.
Lesson Content Objectives:
 Identify and draw rotations, reflections and translations of angles, polygons, and other
figures.
 Investigate rotations, reflections and translations of figures in a drawing by M.C.
Escher.
 Describe transformations using correct mathematical vocabulary.
Materials Needed:
 Lined or white paper
 Rulers
 Three colored pencils per student or pair
 One copy per student of M.C. Escher’s Angels and Devils drawing (included)
 One copy per student of the “Transformation Practice” sheet (included)
 Mirrors (optional)
 One copy per student of the “Transformation STEM Extension” (included)
1
An early version of this lesson was adapted and field-tested by Monica D. Williams-Davis and Layla
Nourbakhsh, participants in the California State University, Long Beach Foundational Level
Mathematics/General Science Credential Program.
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Transformations and Illusions
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Summary of Lesson Sequence
 Introduce the lesson by providing a copy of M.C. Escher’s Angels and Devils drawing
(included) for students to view and discuss.
 Lead students through compiling Cornell Notes on the vocabulary for the lesson
including transformation, reflection, translation, and rotation.
 Model writing letters and their transformations, providing an example of each.
 Guide students through their own practice drawing transformations of letters.
 Check for students’ understanding by allowing students to identify and color figures from
Escher’s Angels and Devils that are reflections, translations, and rotations.
 Allow groups to develop a way to teach the rest of the class how to reflect, rotate, and
translate a letter or polygon.
 To close the lesson, students may discuss in small groups examples of transformations
that may be observed inside the classroom or outside, then report to the whole class.
 For independent practice, students will complete an included activity sheet.
 Provide the optional Transformation Extension activity sheet and allow students to find
designs where transformations of shapes are used.
Assumed Prior Knowledge
Prior to this lesson students should know how to identify, draw, and measure shapes and
angles, and be familiar with the quadrants of the coordinate plane.
Classroom Set Up
Students will be asked to work in small groups for portions of this lesson.
Lesson Description
Introduction
Provide students with a copy of M.C. Escher’s Angels and Devils (included) and allow
students to view and discuss the piece.
Generate discussion by using probing questions: What elements of the piece are repeated
to form a pattern? Are there angles that are congruent? What is different about the
angles (direction and position)?
Input
Lead students through taking notes of the key vocabulary for the lesson:
transformation, reflection, translation, and rotation:
Transformation: a change. A transformation changes the position of a shape on a
coordinate plane. The shape moves from one place to another when it is transformed.
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Reflection: a flip.
A reflection takes place when a
shape is flipped across a line and
faces the opposite direction. A
shape and its reflection are mirror
images of each other.
Demonstrate a reflection using an
object in the classroom and a mirror.
Translation: a slide.
An object is translated when it
moves in one direction from the
starting point to the end.
Demonstrate a translation by sliding
an object in the classroom across a
table.
Rotation: a turn.
An object that is rotated turns on a
point to face another direction like
the hand turning on the face of a
clock.
Demonstrate a rotation with an
object in the classroom or by
directing students’ attention to a
clock with rotating arms.
Model
Demonstrate a reflection, translation, and rotation of the letter E. Provide another
example if necessary without taking from students’ opportunity to explore
transformations during the guided practice. Be careful to choose a letter, which has some
asymmetry or students will not easily see that it has been changed.
Guide Students Through Their Practice
Move around the classroom checking students’ progress and allowing students to assist
each other after assigning the following transformations:
Reflect: p, m, T, nap, and their name.
Translate: S, V, e, and a square.
Rotate: L, w, C, and a triangle.
Check for Understanding
 Using their copy of M.C. Escher’s Angels and Devils, ask students to color one of the
figures in the picture (an angel or devil). Have them find a reflection of that shape and
color it in as well.
 Have students hold up their papers to check their understanding.
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
Ask students to use a different color to indicate another figure and its translation.
Using a third color, ask students to color a third figure and its rotation.
Student Team Teach
Allow students time to discuss a method for teaching how to perform a transformation on
a polygon. Assign a polygon and a transformation to each group, and after allowing time
to prepare, call on representatives of each group to teach the class how to perform the
transformation on their polygon.
Independent Practice
Provide students with the Transformation Practice activity sheet (included) to complete
independently.
Closure
Allow students to discuss in small groups examples of transformations that they observed
in the classroom or outside of the classroom and share with the whole class. Students may
be permitted to show with their own body a reflection, translation or rotation.
Ask students: Can you think of a situation where the result of a reflection may be the
same as the result of a rotation? (A 180 rotation yields the same result as a reflection;
you can point out that the term “180” is used in skateboarding, etc.).
Suggestions for Differentiation and Extension
 Explain to students that symmetry is commonly found in engineering and architectural
designs and allow students to share examples of designs they are familiar with that have
an element of symmetry.
 Provide students with the Transformation Extension activity sheet (included) so that they
may explore symmetry in designs on their own. Encourage students to use a digital
camera or cellular phone to take a photograph of a symmetric design they encounter so
that they may share it in class.
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Transformation Practice
1. A translation ...
 flips a shape
 slides a shape
 turns a shape
2. A reflection ...
 flips a shape
 slides a shape
 turns a shape
3. What rotation would turn the
capital letter Z into a capital N?
 360 degrees
 90 degrees
 180 degrees
4. A triangle on a grid is rotated 90
degrees about the centre of the
grid. The distance between the tip
of the triangle and the centre of
the grid ...
 increases
 stays the same
 decreases
5. A drawing of a stick-man is
reflected in a mirror line. The eye
of the reflected man is ...
 the same distance from the mirror
line as the original shape.
 further from the mirror line than
the original shape.
 nearer the mirror line than the
original shape.
6. A dot at position (4,3) on a grid
is translated four squares to the
right. What are its new
coordinates?
 (0,3)
 (4,3)
 (8,3)
7. A dot at position (0,0) on a grid
is translated one square to the
right and two squares up. What
are its new coordinates?
 (0,0)
 (2,1)
 (1,2)
8. Which of these techniques can
transform the letter b into the
letter d?
 Reflection
 Rotation
 Translation
9. Which of these techniques can
NOT transform the letter M into
the letter W?
 Reflection
 Rotation
 Translation
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Transformation Extension
Engineers, architects, and inventors often design objects that make use of transformed
shapes. Find a building, a machine, or any other man made object for which you can
identify a transformed shape in the design.
1. If possible, take a digital photograph of the object you found so that you may refer to
it to answer the next questions and so that you may share your findings with the class.
2. Draw a simple diagram of the object you found. Label the shape and its
transformation or transformations.
3. Explain how the transformed shape contributes to the design of the object.
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