Mondrian Art for Introducing Area

Our recent unit on multiplication and division started with creating arrays to represent equal groups.  Now we are transitioning to learning about area (which the students will discover is really the same thing).  Last year's class really enjoyed connecting Math with Art so I decided that learning about Piet Mondrian would make a repeat performance.   Composition in Red, Blue, and Yellow was our inspiration.

After learning about Piet Mondrian and his work above, students turned blank grid paper into artistic and mathematical masterpieces.

The final result:

Art Imitates Math?

     The class is currently working on understanding how to calculate the area of rectangles.  So what better way to understand area of rectangles, than to connect it to real life.  Rather than focusing on pretending to measure floor coverings (carpet and tiles do not inspire most) we looked to Art.

From Wikipedia

Specifically, we were inspired by the work of Piet Mondrian and his Composition in Red, Yellow, and Blue.  You can learn more about him here.

From Wikipedia

Rectangles of various sizes and a splash of primary colors reveal hidden considerations of area.  After learning about Mondrian and his works, the students set to work creating their own compositions. First they put in the black outlines on 1 centimeter grid paper making sure that they used vertical and horizontal lines to make rectangles.




 After I photocopied their design, the class calculated the area of their rectangles.

On the second copy, they colored in some of the rectangles with red, yellow, and blue.

   When they were all done they cut out both paper and we mounted them on black paper.  Then they discussed the dimensions of their rectangles.  We talked about how rectangles can have the same area but different dimensions, relating it to our multiplication arrays.

Here's the result...