Wittebols 1

Rebecca Wittebols
MTH 322
Dr. Paul Yu
17 November 2014
Element 1: Lesson Plan and Elaboration
Math Instructional Model- Reflection
Goals/Standards/ Mathematical Objectives:
Understanding congruence and other properties of reflections over a line of reflection using
geometry software (i.e. Geogebra). (Standards: 8GA1, 8GA2)
Students will learn how to perform a reflection using pencil and paper.
Understandings:
Reflections maintain parallelism of line segments and congruence of line segments and
angles. A reflection occurs when an image is reflected over a line or line segment, so that
the new image is a mirror image of the pre-image.
Engagement Block (Launch):
To introduce the lesson, the teacher will give a very quick description of what the lesson is,
telling students that they will learn about another transformation, a reflection.
Dialogue:
Yesterday, you all learned about certain type of isometry, which is another word for transformation,
a translation. Today, we will learn about another type of isometry, a reflection. What do you think of
when I say the word reflection? When I hear the word reflection, I think of my reflection when I
look into a mirror. A reflection transformation is like putting an image to a mirror, so what we see
after we reflect an image is its mirror image.
The teacher will then do a short demo of how to reflect a simple figure, in this case a line
segment, on Geogebra. The students will follow along with the teachers steps on their
iPads. As the teacher walks the students through how to reflect a figure in Geogebra, the
teacher will be sure to explain that the figure is reflected over a line or line segment to
produce a mirror image.
Dialogue:
Open your browser and go to the site at the top of your worksheet: web.geogebra.org/app/#.
In Geogebra, create a triangle by selecting the polygon tool (the red triangle) and select polygon
from the dropdown menu. Then construct a triangle using this tool. Next, select the line construction
tool and select segment from the dropdown menu. Then, select the transformations tool and select
reflect about a line from the dropdown menu. To reflect about a line, select the object you want to
reflect (in our case it is the triangle) by clicking in the center of the triangle and then select the line
of reflection (the line segment) by clicking on it. This will reflect your figure, producing a mirror
image.
The teacher will instruct the students as they are exploring to start thinking about what
properties a reflection might have.

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Dialogue:
As you are working on this worksheet that I am about to give you, I want you to pay close attention
to the properties of the image before you reflect it, which is called the pre-image, and the properties
of the image after it is reflected, which is called the image. I want you to look for similarities and
differences between the pre-image and the image.
Investigation Work Block:
Students will first explore the properties of reflections using the tools on Geogebra. The
teacher will give the students a handout with questions designed to help guide their thinking
as they are exploring. Here are some sample questions:
1. What do you notice about the shape and size of the two figures?
Is one image larger or smaller than the other? Do the images have the same general outline?
2.
Are these figures (image and pre-image) congruent?
What does congruent mean? Be sure to measure corresponding angles and sides of the pre-image
and image.
3.
Measure the distance between a point on the image (ex: P) and the line of reflection.
Then measure the distance between the corresponding point (ex: P) on the pre-image and
the line of reflection. What do you notice about these distances? What do you notice about
the distance between the image and the line of reflection, and the distance between the preimage and the line of reflection? Are these distances the same or different?
Make sure that you are measuring the distance of a straight line segment that is perpendicular to the
line of reflection. One endpoint should be on the pre-image and the other endpoint should be a point
on the line of reflection. The same goes for measuring the distance from the image to the line of
reflection.
4.
Drag some points on the pre-image. Do any points on the image also move? If so,
which points move?
Be sure to mention that the corresponding points on the image move
5.
How is the location of the figure related to the line of reflection? (Hint: think about
distance.)
Think about the distance of the pre-image and the image to the line of reflection. If I wanted to reflect
any figure, how would I do that? What does the line of reflection do in a reflection transformation?
6.
Drag an endpoint of the line of reflection (either point S or T). What happens to the
image and the pre-image when we manipulate the line of reflection?
7.
Draw a line segment that joins a point on the pre-image to the corresponding point
on the image. What can you conclude about the relationship between this segment and the
line of reflection?
What kind of angle do you create when you draw this line? What kind of intersection produces this
angle? Is the line that you draw parallel to the line of reflection, or is it something else?
8.
What do you think will happen when you reflect an angle? What do you notice about
the image?
Are the angles in the pre-image the same or different than the angles in the image?
9.
What do you think will happen when you reflect a line segment? What about a line?
Do the line segments of the pre-image have the same measure or a different measure than the same
line segments on the image?

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10.

Based on your exploration, can you list the properties of a reflection?

Back-up Activity:
Students will model a reflection using a Mira. The teacher provide a pre-drawn pumpkin on
graph paper, and the students will reflect the figure using Miras and they will explore the
properties of a reflection using rulers and protractors as measuring tools. The students will
complete the same worksheet, disregarding the Geogebra instructions.
Summary Work Block:
The teacher will instruct the students to construct a list of properties of reflections.
Properties might include:
corresponding line segments, angles, etc. of pre-image and image are congruent
distance from corresponding points on pre-image and image to the line/ line segment
of reflection is the same
orientation-reflected image is the mirror image of the pre-image
after a reflection, size and shape is preserved (congruence)
Dialogue:
I see that you are all finishing up with the questions, so lets come together and talk about the last
question before the extension, question 10. We are going to make a group list of the properties of a
reflection. As we are discussing this question, I want you to take notes and write down the properties
that you dont have just so that you have them for the quiz. What are some of the properties of a
reflection that you wrote down?...
Closing the discussion Based on our discussion, here is a list of the key properties of a
reflection:
corresponding line segments, angles, etc. of a pre-image and image are congruent
distance from corresponding points on pre-image and image to the line/ line segment of
reflection is the same
the image (reflected image) is the mirror image of the pre-image
after a reflection, size and shape is preserved (congruence)
Application/Extension/ Practice Block:
As a review of reflections, students will complete a pencil-and paper assignment. If time
permits, the students may begin working on this in class. This assignment is due for the
next class period. (See Reflection Worksheet).

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Name:___________________
Hour:__________
Date:____________

Lesson 2: Reflections
Instructions:
Open your browser and go to the site http://web.geogebra.org/app/#. Create your own
Geometry worksheet by clicking on the box titled Geometry. We will create the image of a
jack-o-lantern using the following instructions:
1. Click on the Circle tool and select Circle with Center Through Point. Create a
circle in the center of your Geogebra worksheet.
2. Now you will create the eyes, nose, and mouth of the Jack-o-lantern using the
polygon construction tool. Click the polygon tool and select polygon from the
dropdown menu. Construct a triangle in the center of the circle. This will be the nose
of the jack-o-lantern. Using the triangle tool, construct two triangle eyes at the top of
the circle for the eyes, and one large triangle at the bottom of the circle for the
mouth. Make sure all of your triangles look very different.
3. Finally, you will create the stem of the jack-o-lantern at the top of the pumpkin. Click
the polygon construction tool and select polygon from the dropdown menu. Above
the circle and connect a square to it to make the stem of the jack-o-lantern. The jacko-lantern should look something like this:

Recall: The figure that we just created is called the pre-image. The pre-image is the figure
that we are going to reflect.
Before we can reflect the figure, we need to construct a line segment over which we will
reflect the figure. To create a line segment, click the line construction tool and select
segment from the dropdown menu. Construct a line segment just to the right of your
figure. We will be using this line segment as a line of reflection or mirror line.
Now, we can reflect our figure. To reflect the figure:
1. Click the transformations tool, which is directly to the right of the angle tool. Select
Reflect about Line from the dropdown menu.
2. Using the cursor tool, highlight the entire figure to select it, and then click on the
line segment. This will reflect the figure. Your worksheet should look something like
this:

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Recall: After we reflect the pre-image, we will have two figures. The figure on the left is our
original figure, the pre-image. We will refer to the second figure (the image on the right) as
the image. The image was made by reflecting the pre-image.
Questions:
1.

2.

What do you notice about the shape and size of the two figures?

Are these figures (image and pre-image) congruent? Explain.

3.
Measure the distance between a point on the image (ex: P) and the line of
reflection. Then measure the distance between the corresponding point (ex: P) on
the pre-image and the line of reflection. What do you notice about these distances?
Are these distances the same or different?

4. Drag some points on the pre-image. Do any points on the image also move? If
so, which points move?

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5.
How is the location of the figures related to the line of reflection? (Hint: Think
about distance.)

6.
Drag an endpoint of the mirror line (either point S or T). What happens to the
image and the pre-image when we manipulate the line of reflection?

7.
Draw a line segment that joins a point on the pre-image to the corresponding
point on the image. What can you conclude about the relationship between this
segment and the line of reflection?

8.
Test what happens when you reflect an angle on the pre-image over the line
of reflection (ex: <CDE). What do you notice about the image?

9.
What do you think will happen when you reflect a line segment on the figure
over the line of reflection? What about a line?

10. Based on your exploration, can you list the properties of a reflection?

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Extension:
1. The _________ is the name of the figure before the reflection. The _____________ is
the name of the figure after a reflection.
a. image, pre-image
b. figure, pre-image
c. pre-image, image
d. image, figure
2.
In a reflection, what is true about the size and the shape of the pre-image
compared to the image?
a. both the size and shape of the image is different than the pre-image
b. the pre-image is bigger, but the shape is the same
c. the image is bigger, but the shape is the same
d. they are the same size and shape (congruent)
3.
A figure is reflected over
a. a vector
b. another figure
c. a mirror line
d. something else
4.
List at least four properties of a reflection:
a.
b.
c.
d.

5. Reflect this figure over the mirror line, line segment EF, using a ruler:

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6.

Reflect the figure over the y-axis and label the coordinates:

7.

Reflect the figure over the x-axis and label the coordinates:

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8.

Reflect the figure over the x- axis and then the y axis and label the coordinates:

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Reflection Lesson Plan Elaboration
This lesson was constructed with certain goals in mind. The main mathematical
objectives of this lesson were that students will understand congruence and other properties of
reflections over a line of reflection using geometry software (i.e. Geogebra), and that students
will be able to perform a reflection by hand, using pencil-and-paper. Another goal of the lesson is
that students will understand that reflections maintain parallelism of line segments and
congruence of line segment lengths and angle measures. Students will also understand that a
reflection occurs when an image is reflected over a line or line segment, so that the new image is
a mirror image of the pre-image. More generally, through the activities in this lesson, students
will understand what a reflection looks like, be able to reflect a figure by hand, understand how a
reflection does to a figure, describe the sequence from the pre-image to the image that exhibits
the reflection, and understand how congruence relates to the reflection isometry. These goals
were constructed according to the content standards for grade 8 and the standards for
mathematical practice.
This lesson on the reflection isometry was constructed to meet grade 8 content standards
for geometry, standards 8GA1, 8GA2, and 8GA3. Content standard 8GA1 requires students to
experiment to validate the properties of reflections that through a reflection transformation, lines
are taken to lines, angles are taken to angles, and parallel lines are taken to parallel lines. In other
words, when a reflection is performed on a figure, line segment lengths, angle measures, and
parallelism of lines are all preserved. In the investigation work block, students use Geogebra to
construct a of a jack-o-lantern figure using the construction tools and then reflect the figure using
the reflection tool. In the question portion of this activity, students are instructed to measure the
corresponding line segments and angles of both the pre-image and the image using the

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measurement tools on Geogebra. Through the exploration of these specific questions on line
segments and angles, students will find that corresponding line segments and corresponding
angles of the pre-image and image have the same measure, which verifies that the reflection
isometry preserves the line segment lengths and angle measures of a figure.
Content Standard 8GA2 describes that students must understand that a two-dimensional
figure is congruent to another figure if the latter figure is obtained from the first by a series of
reflections. Saying that two figures are congruent means that the figures have the same size and
shape. The first two questions of the question portion of the investigation work block ask
students if the two figures have the same size and shape, and then if the figures are congruent. If
students answer that the two figures have the same size and shape and they are congruent
because they have the same size and shape, then the students demonstrate some understanding of
the concept of congruence.
To meet content standard 8GA3, students are expected to be able to describe a reflection
of a two dimensional figure using coordinates. In the last three questions of the extension
section, students are asked to perform a reflection on three figures over the x-axis, y-axis, or over
both the x- and- y axes and then label the coordinates. If the image of the reflected figure that
the student draws is the mirror image of the pre-image of the figure, and the pre-image and
image are equidistant from the line of reflection, then the student demonstrates that he/she can
correctly perform a reflection by hand. The student may reflect the figure over the wrong axis or
label the coordinates incorrectly, but these issues can be easily resolved with a quick review of
which axis (horizontal or vertical) axis is the x-axis and which is the y-axis, and reviewing how
to express x and y terms as an ordered pair.

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This lesson also meets Mathematical Practice Standards MP5 and MP6. Practice standard
MP5 describes a students ability to use appropriate tools strategically, which means that the
student can consider which tools that would be appropriate to help them solve a problem.
Examples of such tools are rulers and protractors, paper and pencil, computer software, a
calculator, etc. Using these tools also helps to deepen a students understanding of mathematical
concepts. For the activities in this lesson, students construct and reflect figures using the
geometry computer software called Geogebra. Students also practice constructing and reflecting
figures by hand using coordinate grids on paper and a pencil. Through using these tools and
answering specially designed questions about reflections that go along with the activities in the
lesson, students will develop a deeper understanding of the reflection isometry through
discovering the various properties of a reflection.
Through activities in this lesson, students also meet standard MP6, which is attending to
precision. This standard states that students try to communicate mathematics precisely to others,
using appropriate definitions in their reasoning. Students also calculate accurately, making sure
to specify unit of measure, and label axes appropriately. In the investigation work block activity,
students are instructed to make calculations of angle measures, line segment lengths, and
distances of corresponding points on the image and pre-image to the line of reflection. They are
expected to present their findings using proper mathematical language terms and label
measurements using correct units. In addition, when students are asked to list the properties of
reflections, they are encouraged to use mathematical terms such as congruence,
corresponding angles and line segments, and the terms pre-image and image.
For the first activity in this lesson, students will use the interactive geometry software
Geogebra to construct and reflect figures. The first activity serves as an introduction to the

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reflection isometery. Students are not expected to be able to perform a reflection by hand, as they
do not yet have an adequate understanding of what a reflection is. The Geogebra software
reflects the figure for the students, as they do not yet have the prerequisite knowledge about the
properties of a reflection to be able to perform it. The Geogebra activity is designed so that
students can explore the properties of a reflection visually. The article A Perspective to Explain
How Children Learn about Interactive Geometry Objects in Chapter 8 of the text specifically
discusses the ShapeMakers software, but the ideas in the article can also be applied to Geogebra.
The article describes that using interactive geometry software as an instructional tool can be
beneficial for students because it allows for visualization, manipulation, and discussion that is
not present in paper-and-pencil activities (Yu, Barret, and Presmeg, 110). In this activity,
Students use Geogebra first so that they can focus solely on what a reflection looks like
(visualization) and discover the properties of the reflection isometry through manipulating the
pre-image and its reflected image on Geogebra.
For the extension portion of the lesson, students perform reflections by hand using penciland-paper. The paper-and-pencil activity in this lesson reflects the teaching principle that
students learn mathematics by gaining new knowledge from the combination of prior knowledge
and experience, which is from the article One Teachers Perspective from Chapter 12 of the
text (Paniati, 175). The Geogebra activity serves as the experience that students learn from,
because students can use the properties of a reflection that they discovered in the Geogebra
activity to perform reflections of figures by hand on a coordinate plane. Students cannot be
expected to be successful in performing reflections by hand without first exploring what a
reflection looks like and being able to identify the properties of the reflection isometry.

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The structure and design of this lesson is based on Theory 1 of how students learn
geometry, the Van Hiele Levels (Craine and Rubenstein, p. 91). In the activities of this lesson,
students are most likely to demonstrate van Hiele levels of thinking, 1 and 2. The first van Hiele
level is visualization, in which students identify and describe an isometry based on what it looks
like. For example, given a mystery isometry, a student at a visual level might identify the
isometry as a reflection because it looks like a reflection. This student might also base their
reasoning heavily on orientation. For example, a student might identify a mystery isometry as a
reflection because the figure is flipped or because the two figures in the isometry are
opposites, meaning loosely that the figures are facing different directions. The Geogebra
activity encourages students to operate at a visual level, as the software allows students to
construct a figure and then see what the figure looks like when it is reflected.
The structure of this lesson and the activities of the lesson are also based on van Hiele
level two. The second van Hiele level of thinking is descriptive-analytic reasoning, in which
students identify isometries based on their parts and spacial relationships between their parts. At
this level, a students description may be more or less sophisticated, ranging from describing
isometries and their properties using informal language to describing isometries and their
properties using formal mathematical language. For example, a student at a lower van Hiele level
2 may say that in a reflection, the two figures are the same. A student operating at a higher
level 2 might describe this same property using mathematical language, saying that the two
figures in a reflection are congruent. The questions that go along with the Geogebra activity
are designed to encourage students to graduate from level 1 thinking to level 2 thinking. For each
question, students are instructed to perform a certain task, such as taking measurements of both
the pre-image and the image or comparing corresponding parts of each figure. Then for each

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task, the students are asked a question that guides them to think about the properties of a
reflection. These questions encourage students to use their visual understanding of the reflection
isometry combined with actual measurements to identify the properties of the reflection isometry
and describe the properties using either informal or formal mathematical language.
The students prior knowledge and knowledge of how students learn geometry also
influenced the choice of activities and the structure of the lesson. To introduce the lesson, the
teacher gives a very quick description of what a reflection is by using the analogy of a mirror.
This type of introduction is reflective of the learning principle from Chapter 12 that students
learn from prior knowledge and experience (Paniati, 175). In this case, the experience that
students are encouraged to recall is the experience of looking into a mirror. This analogy helps
students gain a better understanding of what a reflection is, as every student has had the
experience of looking into a mirror and seeing their reflection (unless of course a student has a
visual impairment).
Next, students complete an activity in which they construct and reflect a figure in
Geogebra. For this activity, the students are recalling the experience of working with Geogebra
in the previous lesson on translations the day before this lesson. The new knowledge that
students gain through the Geogebra activity is how to perform a reflection in Geogebra. Through
exploration, students also gain a visual understanding of reflections, as they can see what a figure
looks like before and after it is reflected. This understanding of the reflection isometry at a visual
level is reflective of van Hiele level 1, which has been previously discussed. Then, through
manipulation of the pre-image and its reflected image on Geogebra and through actual
measurements of corresponding parts of the pre-image and image, students are encouraged to
look for relationships between the pre-image and its reflected image. Students then deduce

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properties of all reflections from the relationships that they discover between the two figures and
the measurements of corresponding parts of the figures. Students that are able to come up with a
list of properties and describe the properties, formally or informally is a skill that characterizes
van Hiele Level 2, which was also previously mentioned.
Finally, through a class discussion, students are encouraged to come up with a class list of
the properties of a reflection. In the summary block, each student is encouraged to share at least
one property of a reflection that he or she discovered in the Geogebra activity. This sharing
activity is helpful to both the students in the group and the teacher because the students could
learn a property that they might not come up with, and the teacher could assess each students
level of thinking based each students response.
This lesson can be modified so that is accessible for all students. The Geogebra activity is
designed as a discovery-based approach, as described in Chapter 12 of the text (Paniati, 186).
This activity was student-centered, as the students worked on their own to discover the properties
of the reflection isometry using Geogebra software. Instead of lecturing, the teacher walks
around the room, observing the students as they learn, and offering assistance to those students
who need a little extra help. This is beneficial to students because they can work at their own
pace and they can ask for help from other students or from the teacher if they need it. The
extension block of the lesson is accessible to students who do not have access to an iPad or a
computer because it is designed as a paper-and-pencil assignment.
This lesson is also accessible for students who may think and understand concepts
differently than other students. For example, some students may learn through Abstraction,
which is one of the theories of how students learn geometry discussed in chapter 7 (Battista, 94).
One type of abstraction is using a mental model to think about the properties of a reflection. For

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example, when I think about the reflection isometry, I picture two objects side-by side- in a
mirror. This abstraction helps he to determine which points, angles, and line segments on the preimage correspond, and it also helps me understand that a reflection preserves size because when
you look into a mirror, your size and shape do not change. When a figure is reflected, its preimage and image also have the same size and shape.
Element III: Reflecting on Lesson Implementation and Instructional Decisions
The first goal of this lesson was to meet content standards 8GA1 and 8GA2. Content
standard 8GA2 states that students understand that when a reflection is performed on a figure,
line segment lengths, angle measures, and parallelism of lines are all preserved. Meeting content
standard 8GA2 requires that students understand that a two-dimensional figure is congruent to
another figure if the latter figure is obtained from the first by a series of reflections. Students will
also understand the meaning of congruence in this case, which is that the figure before the
reflection and the figure after it is reflected have the same size and shape, and the measure of
corresponding parts such as angles and line segments is preserved. The students discovered the
property of congruence of a figure and its reflected image using Geogebra as a tool to construct
and reflect a figure. Looking at the students responses to the questions on congruence of the
figures and their line segment lengths and angle measures, it is apparent by the students
responses that most of the students understand that the pre-image and the image and their
corresponding parts are congruent. For example, to the question about the size and shape of the
two jack-o-lanterns, all of the students responded that the jack-o-lanterns were congruent
because they have the same size and shape. The students also understood that the corresponding
parts of the pre-image and the image of the jack-o-lantern are congruent. For example, when
asked about the corresponding angles and line segments of the pre-image and image, one student

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answered both the angles on the pre-image and image are the same and the line segments on
both sides are the same size [on] the pre-image and image. Most of the students responded
similarly to these same questions, with responses such as the angles have the same measure
and the line segments have the same measure when a figure is reflected. These responses
demonstrate that the students understand that the reflection isometry preserves angle measure
and line segment length.
One change that I would make to these questions so that they are more clear for students
is to change the wording of the questions slightly. The question about the angles on the preimage and image is stated Test what happens when you reflect an angle on the pre-image over
the line of reflection. What do you notice about the image? I would change the second half of
the question so that it asks What do you notice about the measure of the angle of the pre-image
and the corresponding angle on the image? Are the angle measures the same or different? The
way that the question was worded before is encouraging students to look at what happens to the
image. The goal of this question, however was not to understand what happens to the overall
image, but to understand how the measures of the angles on the pre-image and the corresponding
angles on the image are related. If the question is reworded so that the students are focusing more
on just the angles, I think that the students will be even more successful in demonstrating that
they understand that a reflection maintains size and shape, and more specifically angle measure
and line segment length.
Another goal of this lesson was that after students learn the properties of a reflection, they
would be able to use the properties to perform a reflection by hand. The extension portion of the
lesson combined the pencil-and -paper goal with the goal having the foundation to later meet
content standard 8GA3, which describes that students describe a reflection of a two dimensional

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figure using coordinates. For three extension problems, the students were asked to perform a
reflection of a figure on a coordinate plane and then label the coordinates. I found that very few
students were successful in correctly completing a reflection on a coordinate plane. One issue
was that the students who could reflect a figure on a coordinate plane did not reflect the figure
over the correct axis. This issue could be resolved by labeling the axes on the worksheet, or by
reminding students that the horizontal axis is the x-axis and the vertical axis is the y-axis. Many
of the students in my group were not successful at all in performing a reflection of a figure on a
coordinate plane. Some of the students did not apply the knowledge of the properties of a
reflection that they learned from the experience of the Geogebra activity. The images that these
students drew did not have the same size and shape as the pre-image, did not have angles and
line segments that were the same length, distance between the figures and the line of reflection
were not the same, and lines on the figures were not straight. In addition, another issue that was
apparent was that the students did not reflect the image over either axis, and instead translated
the image by a certain unspecified vector. I think that one possible explanation for the students
not being able to perform a reflection on a coordinate plane is that either the students have not
had much experience working with coordinate planes, or the students might have been
intimidated by the coordinate plane problems, and their performance suffered as a result. One
way that this issue can be resolved is to remind the students to keep the properties of a reflection
in mind as they are reflecting the figures on the coordinate plane. I think that it might also have
been beneficial for student to practice performing a reflection on a coordinate plane in class first,
so that they may ask questions about aspects of the coordinate plane reflection problems that
they do not understand. I think it was hard for students to transition from reflecting a figure on

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Geogebra in class where they had support from other students and the teacher, to going home and
performing a reflection by hand without prior experience and without help if they needed it.
Students were also challenged to reflect a quadrilateral figure over a diagonal line of
reflection. Some students were very successful at this task, as the reflected images were the same
distance away from the line of reflection and the image was the same size and shape as the preimage. Some students were not successful in completing this task, as their images were not
mirror images of the pre-image, the images were not the same distance away from the line of
reflection as the pre-image, and some student performed translations instead. Some of the
students finished the Geogebra activity and started the extension activity in class. I looked at
these students drawings of reflected images and reminded them to think about the properties of a
reflection. With this clue in mind, the students whose drawings were not correct were able to
erase and redraw their images so that they were accurately reflected. Other students worked at a
slower pace and were not able to begin the extension assignment in class. These were the
students who were not very successful in reflecting the figure by hand over the diagonal line of
reflection. If these students could first practice the task in class so that they had help when they
needed it, I think they would be more successful in reflecting the figure in the extension
assignment.
Yet another goal of this lesson is that students meet mathematical practice standard MP5,
describes a students ability to use appropriate tools strategically. This standard means that the
student can consider which tools that would be appropriate to help them solve a problem. For the
activities in this lesson, students use two tools in particular, Geogebra and measurement tools
such rulers and protractors to complete the paper- and-pencil extension activity. Students are
expected to use the tools in Geogebra to construct, reflect, and then measure the figures. Of a

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reflection isometry. For the pencil-and-paper extension assignment, students are expected to
know how to use rulers, protractors, and a coordinate plane to accurately reflect a figure.
Through activities in this lesson, another goal is that students also meet standard MP6,
which is attending to precision. This standard states that students try to communicate
mathematics precisely to others, using appropriate definitions in their reasoning. Students are
expected to provide clear and concise answers to each of the questions of the activities, and they
are also expected to use appropriate definitions and mathematical language when they are
describing the properties the reflection isometry. I noticed that when some of the students were
listing properties of a reflection, their properties were not very specific. For example, one student
said that the properties of a reflection were congruent, orientation and distance. By this
students response, it was evident that the student had heard these mathematical terms, but did
not know how they relate to the reflection isometry. To demonstrate understanding of the
properties of a reflection, this student should better explain the properties. The questions What
about distance?, what about congruence?, and What about the orientation? are all questions
that are unanswered with this students response. Another student came up with more specific
properties that explained how congruence, orientation, and distance relate to the reflection
isometry. The properties that this student listed were that the figures were not the same
direction (orientation), the figures had the same shape and same size (congruence), and the
distance between the reflection is the same (distance). In the last property, I am assuming that
the student was referring to the distance between each image and the line of reflection is the
same, which the student discovered in the Geogebra activity. This students responses suggest
that this student has a very good understanding of the properties of a reflection, as they are able
to communicate the properties of a reflection relatively clearly, using informal language.

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Analyzing my students work, it is evident that the students operate at different van Hiele
levels. Some of the students describe the properties of a reflection visually at a level 1,
describing what a reflection looks like. For example, when one student was asked what she
notices about the shape and size of the two jack-o-lantern figures, she replied The shape stayed
the same but the way its looking is different. Another student replied they are congruent but
they are flipped. These responses tell me that these students are at a visual level 1 of thinking
because they are describing visually what they observe, describing the pre-image as different,
opposite, or as other students described, flipped. I noticed that some students are operating at
a higher level 2 thinking when they responded to other questions. For example, when asked
about the properties of the reflection isometry, one student was very precise in his response,
describing that the two figures and their line segments are congruent, and that a reflection
preserves line segment measure. This student also demonstrates a visual level of thinking with
some of his properties, describing some of the properties visually. For example, this student also
described that angles and line segments are the same but flipped. Most of the other students
operated at a visual level, describing what the properties of a reflection look like, just as this
student did with some of the properties that he listed.
Overall, the students were more successful with the Geogebra activity than with the
paper-and-pencil extension activity, because they were able to complete the Geogebra activity in
class, where they had help form their peers and from the teacher, and they were not expected to
complete a reflection by hand. One limitation of the Geogebra activity was that creating the
figure on Geogebra was time-consuming because the figure had many smaller parts that the
students needed to construct. Some of my students spent a lot of time trying to construct the
figures on Geogebra to look exactly like the example figure that I provided, which wasted a lot

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of time. If I were to teach this lesson, I would have students construct a simpler figure so that
they could spend less time on Geogebra trying to construct the figure, giving them more time to
answer the questions and work on the paper-and-pencil extension assignment in class. It would
be beneficial for the students to have some time to work on the extension in class so that they
may ask any questions that they may have about the extension problems, so that they may be
more successful in completing the problems correctly.
Another possible modification to the lesson is to use a Mira as a tool to perform a
reflection instead of Geogebra. I think this would be very beneficial for students as the Mira
provides a visual experience, actually showing us how an image is reflected. In Geogebra
students can see that an object is reflected over the line of reflection, but with the Mira, the
students can actually see the reflection of the figure in the Mira. Using the Mira, students do not
have to rely on abstraction, such as making a mental model of the figure being reflected over the
mirror line on Geogebra. The Mira experience brings life to the abstraction, because students can
physically see the reflection happening before their eyes.