Our interactive tabletop allows for three different types of learning activities:

Fractal Fundamentals: A series of famous fractals including the Sierpinski triangle, snowflake fractal & carpet fractal are projected on the screen and a unit within the fractal is highlighted  Learners have to select values for scale, rotate, translate x and translate y that would generate the highlighted shape.  Once they put the correct value tiles on the table, an image of the fractal in nature and a "great job!" message is projected.  This activity helps learners understand and master the basics of iterated functions systems & geometric plane transformations and their connection to generating fractals.



Pattern Prediction: Learners can select an initiator shape (square, equilateral triangle, right triangle) and then choose values for scale, rotate, and a matrix of translate x & translate y values.  They then use the tangible shapes (in 3 different scales) to predict what the fractal will look like based on the iterated function systems generation for the values they selected.  Once they have arranged the tangible shapes according to their prediction, they can put a "feedback" button down on the table and the mathematically accurate fractal pattern is projected.  Students can compare the tangible shapes to the projection and make adjustments to their own work as necessary.
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Fractal Free Play: In this open-ended activity, learners select an initiator shape and then can freely move fiducial markers to rotate the shape's arrangement and generate a fractal pattern at up to 15 levels of scale.  They see self-similarity and recursion at work underneath their fingertips.  Once they have settled on an arrangement that they like, learners can print the fractal pattern and use it to generate a template for an illuminated work of art.

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