Dragon Curve Mosaic

thingiverse

The Dragon Curve is the visual representation of what a profile view of a piece of paper that's folded in half over and over again. Check out the videos below to learn more! A Numberphile video showed a mathematician who made some custom tiles to display the curve on his wall, which inspired our Thingiverse Thursday design. The design uses only 3 models: an end piece, a single piece, and a double piece. Together you can carefully arrange them into the Dragon Curve of any order of magnitude. We ordered 9 for our mural, as if we folded a piece of paper 9 times. Check out the result! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCyC-K_PnRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v678Em6qyzk Custom Section Project: Dragon Curve Objectives: Students will learn about fractal generation and iteration while creating a unique mosaic art piece. They'll need to use technical skills and critical thinking to construct a well-centered, straight mosaic. Audiences: This project is suitable for grades 5 and up. If the student can fold paper, they can learn this concept. Preparation: Choose which design iteration you want to build and print out the appropriate number of pieces. The higher the iteration, the more pieces you'll need. Get a melamine board or wall for mounting and some Locktite GO2 glue. You'll need some drafting tools to get everything square. Recommended tools are: mechanical pencil, T-square, large triangle. Project Description: This idea introduces students to the concept of fractals. I'd recommend using existing video media like ViHart and Numberphile videos on YouTube as a supplement. Giving students paper strips to form the first few iterations of the design is great for younger students. Older students with access to CAD software can easily be shown how to draw a curve, copy, paste, and rotate 90 degrees and generate higher-order curves. Printing all the pieces doesn't take very long and will give all students a chance to get some face time with their school's printer. Finally, students can be in charge of their row of tiles and use technical drawing tools to construct the mosaic, or each can construct their own low-order part. Moreover, since these patterns tessellate every year, students can add to previous years' mosaic with a different color until the pattern is completed! To summarize, the general flow for completion is as follows: 1. Introduce core concept with video media and paper/CAD demonstration. 2. Print tiles and assemble inserts. 3. Assemble a dry fit to establish correct placement. 4. Apply tape to each tile row so that rows can be moved and stored while gluing. 5. Glue center row using T-square. Allow 24 hours to cure. All rows should then square up to the center row. 6. Finish other rows using a triangle and make sure path lines up on all tiles. Results: The result will be an interesting piece of art with a fantastic mathematical back story. Grade students on correct placement, comprehension of core concepts, and participation.