Course Title: East Lansing Middle School Math Circle

Lesson Title: Topology

Equipment, Materials and Tools

Description: Chalkboard/Dry Erase Board LCD Projector Number 1 Description: Screen: Video Tape Recorder and or Camera Number

Flipcharts and stands (Pads Req.)

Slide Projector-Carousel, Tray TV/VCR

Laptop Computer
Overhead Projector, Transparencies Other:
Clay/playdou gh

Student Materials
Item: Paper (quite a bit) Scissors/Tape # Needed: When Distributed: Comments:

Special Materials Notes and Comments

You may wish to pre-cut the paper into strips for students. The clay/playdough can be used by students or just for demonstration. The material covered may take more than one class period, planned for one or two two hour sessions.

References
http://www.marinmathcircle.org/handouts/20102011/shapeOfSpaceTorusPart1.pdf http://geometrygames.org/TorusGames/index.html

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Lesson Plan Outline

Course Title: Topology
Lesson Title: Mobius and Torus Instructors Notes: Warm up Game/Activity Introduction to Topology Differences Between Topology and Geometry Letters/Shapes Topologically Similar? A torus! Begin discussion of Mobius strip

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Lesson Plan Body

Course Title: Lesson Title: Intro-knots have kids try to untangle themselves from human knot and also from tying two together. Begin by telling story at beginning of Shape of Space book by Jeff Weeks. Ask students what worlds could fit the description. (Students are not expected to know this, but should potentially think of donuts. If students do not know, leave this as a question to be answered) Explain the difference between geometry and topology Use some clay/playdough. (Ex: The topology is the aspect of a surfaces nature that is unaffected by deformation (violent things like cutting, gluing and pinching are not allowed) (Weeks). Geometry is the opposite! It consists of those properties which do change under deformation) Put some pictures of shapes (or describe them i.e. a dumbbell, a doughnut, a coffee mug, etc) and have students identify those that are topologically similar. Have students work in small groups to discover which letters in the English alphabet are topologically similar to each other. Dimensions: Briefly review different dimensions (perhaps this topic could be explored further here or later, but for the purposes of this lesson, a brief refresher will suffice) Describe some surfaces and have students guess the dimensions (ex. a point? A line? A desk?) Describe intrinsic vs extrinsic topology using a twist (FULL! Not Mobius) in a piece of paper (Weeks p. 33) Introduction into Mobius Band- changing the intrinsic and extrinsic properties. (Think of the point of view of a 2D person walking around a loop) If time, show video http://vihart.com/blog/mobius-story/ Make loop (normal) and draw a line around the outside. Have students do same with a Mobius strip. Cut your loop in half along the line and have students guess what theirs will look like and then cut theirs in half the same way. o You should end up with two separate loops while the students should end up with one larger Mobius strip. o Have students try cutting it into thirds- ask them to figure out what/why happens (think about relation to edges) o Using a cross-pattern, have students make 2 loops and cut down the centers of each one. (hand-cuffs & picture frame) Instructors Notes:

Students may be puzzled because they will think of our world first!

-If students have their own clay, have them pair up and make shapes that are topologically similar (Praise creativity)

-Provide organizational strategies like drawing a general form of each shape.

-Students may have a hard time understanding this, ask them to picture themselves in 2D

-You can use fruit roll ups with dividers (either or 1/3 depending on how they come)

-Have students continually guess what their loops will look like before they cut them -This answers the video question! -Make sure students dont cut to the inside of the from the outside P 03 of P 07

Lesson Plan Body

Course Title: Lesson Title: Instructors Notes: o Have students explore different twists of loops to see what they get (ex. if twisting both in Mobius strips in different directions, youll get two linked hearts!) -Relate back to question posed at the beginning! Could they live on a Mobius strip??

DAY 2 Begin with Leprechaun coin problem from http://www.aimsedu.org/Puzzle/categories/topological.html as warm up Proceed to having them organize letters topologically (they should remember minor topology, but we didnt get to the alphabet and other symbols last week) Human Knot (for fun-some untangling) http://mathlesstraveled.com/2010/11/19/the-mathematics-of-humanknots/ You can also make two linked knots by numbering the students odds and evens and having even students only hold hands with even students and odds with odds. Exploring Torus- New Topic http://www.geometrygames.org/TorusGames/ math.maconstate.edu/swallace/.../AllredGravely_5-2011.pptx (Hand out worksheet) Explain a 1-torus (using the example of a video game like pacman). Use tic-tac-toe and have students identify moves/paths that are the same. You can also have them identify similar pics Is there a winning/preferred spot for the first person to go? How many unique moves are there? Introduce a Klein bottle (if time) Briefly Explain congruency to Mobius strips (be sure to note the reflective property seen in the video last time) Demonstrate by using a gluing pattern of a 2D square. This may be more difficult for students to visualize than the torus so do not take class time to have them play their own games of Klein bottle tic-tac-toe, but have them examine the strategy on page 53 of The Shape of Space for determining winning moves. They should note the complexity of this compared to the torus games.

-Students should recognize this from the linked persons exercise from last week -remind them they cannot cut or glue

-Allow students to play a few rounds and discover optimal strategies. Any cats games?

-If you have access to a glass Klein bottle, this could be a useful visual.

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Lesson Plan Body

Course Title: Lesson Title: Konigsberg Bridge Problem (Hand out worksheet) Connection to end of last lesson (London underground system): Explain mapping/networking-specifically relate that mathematicians dont really care at first about the specific path connecting two points, but rather how many paths there are between the two points. (If time, you can relate these problems to those of playoff type games like tennis- if the class was having a tournament where each person had to play every other person, how many games would need to be played? Or if every student had to shake every other students hand, how many handshakes?) Follow with the house drawing exercise. (without picking up their pencils, can students draw Instructors Notes: -This serves as a useful connection to Eulers Characteristic for another lesson

-Students should keep in mind that for Jane to play Joe, they dont need the reverse as well (Joe playing Jane)

-You can have students come up with their own shapes to see which can be drawn without lifting their pencil.
Explanation, Yes! If they start from either corner with an odd number of paths coming from it and end at the other, it can be done regardless the path!

Have students explore other shapes they can/cant draw before explaining. Have them clearly draw (perhaps with a different color) the vertices of their shapes. Back up and now explore what paths you can connect to make complete networks (i.e. no loose ends). Help students construct a chart- if they have one dot with and odd number of paths off it (also known as the degree of that vertex), can they make a network? 2 dots with odd numbers? 1 dot with even? 2 dots with even? There are many scenarios. Check out (BOOK) for a good example of how to present slowly if your students dont quite see. -A good way to do this is to do even dots with people and have the people be vertices and their arms be paths. Putting an arm behind their back makes a one armed vertex.

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Lesson Plan Body

Course Title: Lesson Title: Instructors Notes: Briefly explain how Euler reconstructed the graph of the city (because where you travel on land masses doesnt matter!) and laid the foundation for graph theory (using the networks previously discussed!) Let students try to find a path that crosses every bridge without recrossing. (Obviously this cant be done!) Explanation: Every vertex excluding the beginning and ending vertices needs to have the same number of entries as exits. The bridges do not follow this! http://nrich.maths.org/2484 Ending topology thought: Can you comb a hairy ball? What about a banana? A donut? If time, play brussel sprouts! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprouts_(game)

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