Fractals for the Classroom: Strategic Activities Volume Two

The same factors that motivated the writing of our first volume of strategic activities on fractals continued to encourage the assembly of additional activities for this second volume. Fractals provide a setting wherein students can enjoy hands-on experiences that involve important mathematical content connected to a wide range of physical and social phenomena. The striking graphic images, unexpected geometric properties, and fascinating numerical processes offer unparalleled opportunity for enthusiastic student inquiry. Students sense the vigor present in the growing and highly integrative discipline of fractal geom­ etry as they are introduced to mathematical developments that have occurred during the last half of the twentieth century. Few branches of mathematics and computer science offer such a contem­ porary portrayal of the wonderment available in careful analysis, in the amazing dialogue between numeric and geometric processes, and in the energetic interaction between mathematics and other disciplines. Fractals continue to supply an uncommon setting for animated teaching and learn­ ing activities that focus upon fundamental mathematical concepts, connections, problem-solving techniques, and many other major topics of elementary and advanced mathematics. It remains our hope that, through this second volume of strategic activities, readers will find their enjoyment of mathematics heightened and their appreciation for the dynamics of the world in­ creased. We want experiences with fractals to enliven curiosity and to stretch the imagination.

This second volume of strategic classroom activities is designed to develop, through a hands-on approach, a deeper mathematical understanding and greater appreciation of fractals and chaos. The concepts presented include iteration, chaos, and the Mandelbrot set.