TesselMania

School Science and Mathematics, Feb 1997 by McDonald, Jacqueline

Program: TesselMania Publisher: MECC/Learning Company (800) 852-2255 http://www.mecc.com 6160 Summit Drive North Minneapolis, MN 55430

Program Overview

TesselMania creates a fascinating educational experience for the user. As your program starts up, you are presented with a pictorial menu. Gallery explores sample tessellations. But it goes beyond looking at the finished product. You can choose options that take you step by step through the creation of the tessellation's fundamental region and its finished design. Puzzles takes you to a "scrambled"tessellation. Using your mouse to drag pieces to new locations, your goal is to recreate the original design. Projects helps you create cards, banners, puzzles, paper folding projects, and more. About Tessellations is an animated and narrated study of tessellations that relies on materials from Dale Seymour Publication's books on tessellations. It includes the art of M. C. Escher and the mathematics of Heesch.

TesselMania moves you to a drawing screen that allows you to create your own tessellation by first selecting a polygon to alter, then identifying the type(s) of transformation(s) to be used. As you make a change in the polygon, the computer generates the transformation. Also available are palettes of colors and patterns and a"stamper" with a variety of details that can be added to your pattern. Everything can be printed in color or black and white. One feature allows you to switch between common terms (flip, slide, etc.) and mathematical terms (reflection, glide, etc.). An "oops" button erases steps one by one. The program is recommended, by the publisher, for ages "8 to adult"

Favorite Features

I found the auditory and visual tutorial to be very well done. It is clearly delivered by "Marty," an on-screen monkey. The tutorial makes excellent use of color and animation. The user may also select segments to be studied and wander through the information and presentations as desired. The user also has the option to quit at any time or move to another part of the program. My favorite feature was the drawing screen and the opportunity to explore tessellations by creating them. This aspect of the program will keep the user fascinated! The "SSMA #1" (see Figure 1) is an example of a black and white tessellation created from a triangle by a combination of rotations and translations. Full color features are also available.

The help feature is excellent. Every time I got "stuck" I simply clicked on "Marty" and he told me what to do in clear speech and using easy to follow directions.

Technical Features

TesselMania is available on a hybrid Macintosh/ Windows CD-ROM. It does not load onto the hard disk but runs directly from the CD. It has some technical characteristics that I would like to see the next version "fix."

Next Version

I would like to see the next version clear up a few "technical difficulties." First, as I moved back and forth to the main menu, my computer screen flipped back to the finder and then back to the program. This was very distracting and broke the smoothness of the program. Second, I had to make a number of changes to my computer's set-up to operate the program smoothly. File sharing, virtual memory, and the Modem Memory Manager had to be tumed off and the computer restarted before the program ran properly. The "Read Me"file lists helpful suggestions if you experience difficulty. The next version could be a little more friendly to less experienced computer users.

Conclusion

If you are interested in the art or mathematics of tessellations, this program's for you! If you teach art and/ or mathematics, this program's for you! It is an appealing and excellent example of a multifaceted program incorporating mathematical and artistic experiences in one environment.

Editor's Note: Jacqueline McDonald's postal address is Adelphi University, School of Education, 1 South Avenue, Garden City, NY 11530, and e-mail address is mcdonald@adlibv.adelphi.edu.