PED 3142 – Final Product

Cartesian Grids

Name: Stephanie McKeen 300193692

Affiliation: Faculty of Education

Course: PED 3142

Submitted to: Rami Kamel

March 16, 2023

 For my final product, I wanted to create a physical object or manipulatable for use in the

classroom by both teachers and students to aid in mathematical understanding in junior

classrooms. From my conversations with my associate teacher in my practicum placement, I

learned that the students had the most difficulty with strand E. Spatial Sense, specifically E1.

Geometric and Spatial Reasoning (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020). In this strand, the

physical objects that I decided to create would be four separate grids that, when placed together,

would form the four quadrants of the Cartesian grid. This would help demonstrate the following

specific expectations:

“E1.3 plot and read coordinates in all four quadrants of a Cartesian plane, and describe

the translations that move a point from one coordinate to another” (Ontario Ministry of

Education, 2020)

“E1.4 describe and perform combinations of translations, reflections, and rotations up to 360° on

a grid, and predict the results of these transformations” (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020)

The grid can also be used for purposes outside the Cartesian grid. It can be used as a

regular “graph” paper board in other activities such as drawing graphs when learning about Data

Visualisation (D1.3) (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2020). It could also be used for learning

letter writing for ELD learners who need more support than just lined paper to develop their

writing skills. However, for the purposes of this project, I will focus on its use as a Cartesian grid

to help students develop their spatial reasoning.

 To construct the grids pictured above, I decided to maximize the usability by creating

large 24-inch by 24-inch grids that were magnetic and dry-erasable. To achieve this, I took ¼

inch foam boards and cut them to size. Next, I painted them with a magnetic paint. After that, I

painted a top coat of white paint. Then, I painted on a grid with the lines measuring 5cm apart.

Finally, I painted a coat of dry erase paint that would allow dry erase markers to be used and

erased. To take advantage of the magnetic properties of the grid, I created 3D objects using

Tinkercad (Autodesk, 2023), printed four common shapes and attached magnets to the back of

them so that they could be used with the board for demonstrative purposes. These objects are

pictured on the following page.

 With magnets attached to the back of each board, the boards could be attached to a white

board or chalk board in the classroom and used during geometric and spatial sense lessons. If

there are some students that require further assistance after the introduction of the lesson, the

teacher could place them in a small group together with one of the boards to help facilitate their

understanding. Below are pictures demonstrating their use. The left picture is an object with its

coordination points displayed. The right picture demonstrates reflection or 180-degree rotation

using the 3D printed object to demonstrate its final position. On the next page, the left picture

demonstrates reflection in a different quadrant, and the right demonstrates two slides using

another 3D printed object to demonstrate its prior position.

 I believe that the manipulatables that I created allows for differentiation and inclusion of

every student working on succeeding in acquiring the skills learned in the Spatial Sense strand in

the junior levels. While a teacher could project an image of a grid and use that on the

classroom’s white board, these boards can be picked up and moved to the student’s desk and

allows for small group work or individual inquiry and exploration. When students are able to

rotate, slide, and reflect the physical objects themselves, it will help them get a better grasp on

where the object will finish its journey on the grid through this visualization.

In separate attachments, I have included the STL files for my 3D objects for your

convenience.

References

Autodesk, Inc. (2023). Autodesk: Tinkercad. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from

https://www.tinkercad.com/
Ontario Ministry of Education. (2020). The Ontario Curriculum, Grade 6, Mathematics, E1.
Geometric and Spatial Reasoning. https://www.dcp.edu.gov.on.ca/en/curriculum/elementary-
mathematics/grades/g6-math/strand-e/e1