MA.912.GR.2.6

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Apply rigid transformations to map one figure onto another to justify that the two figures are congruent.

Clarifications

Clarification 1: Instruction includes showing that the corresponding sides and the corresponding angles are congruent.
General Information
Subject Area: Mathematics (B.E.S.T.)
Grade: 912
Strand: Geometric Reasoning
Standard: Apply properties of transformations to describe congruence or similarity.
Date Adopted or Revised: 08/20
Status: State Board Approved

Benchmark Instructional Guide

Connecting Benchmarks/Horizontal Alignment


Terms from the K-12 Glossary

  • Coordinate Plane 
  • Origin 
  • Reflection 
  • Rigid Transformation 
  • Rotation 
  • Translation
 

Vertical Alignment

Previous Benchmarks

Next Benchmarks

 

Purpose and Instructional Strategies

In grade 8, students identified a single transformation given the preimage and the image and learned that when the transformation is a reflection, a rotation or a translation, those transformations preserve congruence, that is, the preimage is mapped onto a copy of itself. In Geometry, students determine whether two figures are congruent and justify their answers using a sequence of rigid motions. This leads to the definition of congruence in terms of rigid transformations. (MTR.5.1) 
  • When identifying the transformations in the sequence, specify the vertical and horizontal translations, center and angle of the rotation, clockwise or counterclockwise, line of reflection, when needed. 
  • Instruction includes describing the rigid transformations using words and using coordinates. 
  • It is important to identify corresponding parts between the preimage and the image leading to the congruence statement and the congruence of the corresponding parts (angles and sides). 
  • Instruction includes using examples to compare transformations preserving angle measures and distance versus transformations just preserving angle measures. Include situations where the preimage and the image are not congruent to show how rigid motions will fail mapping one figure onto the other. (MTR.4.1)
 

Common Misconceptions or Errors

  • Students may have trouble seeing congruence when a reflection is needed because they limit their thinking to sliding a figure around without turning it over.
 

Instructional Tasks

Instructional Task 1 (MTR.3.1, MTR.4.1) 
  • Two triangles on the coordinate plane are shown below. 
  • Part A. What transformation(s) could be applied to map triangle EBD onto triangle CBA? 
  • Part B. Once the transformation is completed, how can you determine if the two triangles are congruent?
 

Instructional Items

Instructional Item 1
  • Describe the sequence of transformations that could be used to prove that the two quadrilaterals shown are congruent.


*The strategies, tasks and items included in the B1G-M are examples and should not be considered comprehensive.

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
1200400: Foundational Skills in Mathematics 9-12 (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
1206310: Geometry (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
1206320: Geometry Honors (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
1206315: Geometry for Credit Recovery (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
7912065: Access Geometry (Specifically in versions: 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
MA.912.GR.2.AP.6: Use rigid transformations that includes translations or reflections to map one figure onto another to show that the two figures are congruent.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Formative Assessments

Justifying HL Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the HL pattern of congruence ensures right triangle congruence.

Type: Formative Assessment

Congruent Trapezoids:

Students will determine whether two given trapezoids are congruent.

Type: Formative Assessment

Transform This:

Students are asked to translate and rotate a triangle in the coordinate plane and explain why the pre-image and image are congruent.

Type: Formative Assessment

Proving the Alternate Interior Angles Theorem:

In a diagram involving two parallel lines and a transversal, students are asked to use rigid motion to prove that alternate interior angles are congruent.

Type: Formative Assessment

Showing Triangles Congruent Using Rigid Motion:

Students are asked to use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motion to show that two triangles are congruent in the coordinate plane.

Type: Formative Assessment

Justifying SSS Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the SSS pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Type: Formative Assessment

Justifying SAS Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the SAS pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Type: Formative Assessment

Justifying ASA Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the ASA pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Type: Formative Assessment

Lesson Plans

"Triangle Congruence Show" Starring Rigid Transformations:

Students will be introduced to the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motion and use it to determine if two triangles are congruent.

Type: Lesson Plan

Regular Polygon Transformation Investigation:

This is an introductory lesson on regular polygon transformation for congruency using a hands-on approach.

Type: Lesson Plan

Match That!:

Students will prove that two figures are congruent based on a rigid motion(s) and then identify the corresponding parts using paragraph proof and vice versa, prove that two figures are congruent based on corresponding parts and then identify which rigid motion(s) map the images.

Type: Lesson Plan

Rotations of Regular Polygons:

This lesson guides students through the development of a formula to find the first angle of rotation of any regular polygon to map onto itself. Free rotation simulation tools such as GeoGebra, are used.

Type: Lesson Plan

Turning to Congruence:

This lesson uses rigid motions to prove the ASA and HL triangle congruence theorems.

Type: Lesson Plan

Slip, Slide, Tip, and Turn: Corresponding Angles and Corresponding Sides:

Using the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motion, students will show that two triangles are congruent.

Type: Lesson Plan

Where Will I Land?:

This is a beginning level lesson on predicting the effect of a series of reflections or a quick review of reflections for high school students.

Type: Lesson Plan

Exploring Congruence Using Transformations:

This is an exploratory lesson that elicits the relationship between the corresponding sides and corresponding angles of two congruent triangles.

Type: Lesson Plan

How Much Proof Do We Need?:

Students determine the minimum amount of information needed to prove that two triangles are similar.

Type: Lesson Plan

How do your Air Jordans move?:

In this inquiry lesson, students are moving their individually designed Air Jordans around the room to explore rigid transformations on their shoes. They will Predict-Observe-Explain the transformations and then have to explain their successes/failures to other students.

Type: Lesson Plan

Triangles on a Lattice:

In this activity, students will use a 3x3 square lattice to study transformations of triangles whose vertices are part of the lattice. The tasks include determining whether two triangles are congruent, which transformations connect two congruent triangles, and the number of non-congruent triangles (with vertices on the lattice) that are possible.

Type: Lesson Plan

Congruence vs. Similarity:

Students will learn the difference between congruence and similarity of classes of figures (such as circles, parallelograms) in terms of the number of variable lengths in the class. A third category will allow not only rigid motions and dilations, but also a single one-dimensional stretch, allowing more classes of figures to share sufficient common features to belong.

Type: Lesson Plan

Let's Reflect On This...:

Students will use parallel and intersecting lines on the coordinate plane to transform reflections into translations and rotations.

Type: Lesson Plan

Transformers 3:

Students will learn the vocabulary of three rigid transformations, reflection, translation, and rotation, and how they relate to congruence. Students will practice transforming figures by applying each isometry and identifying which transformation was used on a figure. The teacher will assign students to take pictures of the three transformations found in the real world.

Type: Lesson Plan

Problem-Solving Tasks

Partitioning a Hexagon:

The purpose of this task is for students to find a way to decompose a regular hexagon into congruent figures. This is meant as an instructional task that gives students some practice working with transformations.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does ASA Work?:

This problem solving task ask students to show the reflection of one triangle maps to another triangle.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

When Does SSA Work to Determine Triangle Congruence?:

In this problem, we considered SSA. The triangle congruence criteria, SSS, SAS, ASA, all require three pieces of information. It is interesting, however, that not all three pieces of information about sides and angles are sufficient to determine a triangle up to congruence.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does SAS Work?:

This problem solving task challenges students to explain the reason why the given triangles are congruent, and to construct reflections of the points.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Isosceles Triangles:

This activity uses rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Equilateral Triangles:

This activity is one in a series of tasks using rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles, with this task in particular focusing on the class of equilaterial triangles

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflected Triangles:

This task asks students to use a straightedge and compass to construct the line across which a triangle is reflected.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why does SSS work?:

This particular problem solving task exhibits congruency between two triangles, demonstrating translation, reflection and rotation.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting octagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular octagon to construct a pattern of four octagons enclosing a quadrilateral: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce that the quadrilateral is actually a square.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting hexagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular hexagon to construct a pattern of six hexagons enclosing a seventh: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce this seven hexagon pattern.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Is This a Rectangle?:

The goal of this task is to provide an opportunity for students to apply a wide range of ideas from geometry and algebra in order to show that a given quadrilateral is a rectangle. Creativity will be essential here as the only given information is the Cartesian coordinates of the quadrilateral's vertices. Using this information to show that the four angles are right angles will require some auxiliary constructions. Students will need ample time and, for some of the methods provided below, guidance. The reward of going through this task thoroughly should justify the effort because it provides students an opportunity to see multiple geometric and algebraic constructions unified to achieve a common purpose. The teacher may wish to have students first brainstorm for methods of showing that a quadrilateral is rectangle (before presenting them with the explicit coordinates of the rectangle for this problem): ideally, they can then divide into groups and get to work straightaway once presented with the coordinates of the quadrilateral for this problem.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

MFAS Formative Assessments

Congruent Trapezoids:

Students will determine whether two given trapezoids are congruent.

Justifying ASA Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the ASA pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Justifying HL Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the HL pattern of congruence ensures right triangle congruence.

Justifying SAS Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the SAS pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Justifying SSS Congruence:

Students are asked to use rigid motion to explain why the SSS pattern of congruence ensures triangle congruence.

Proving the Alternate Interior Angles Theorem:

In a diagram involving two parallel lines and a transversal, students are asked to use rigid motion to prove that alternate interior angles are congruent.

Showing Triangles Congruent Using Rigid Motion:

Students are asked to use the definition of congruence in terms of rigid motion to show that two triangles are congruent in the coordinate plane.

Transform This:

Students are asked to translate and rotate a triangle in the coordinate plane and explain why the pre-image and image are congruent.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Problem-Solving Tasks

Partitioning a Hexagon:

The purpose of this task is for students to find a way to decompose a regular hexagon into congruent figures. This is meant as an instructional task that gives students some practice working with transformations.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does ASA Work?:

This problem solving task ask students to show the reflection of one triangle maps to another triangle.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

When Does SSA Work to Determine Triangle Congruence?:

In this problem, we considered SSA. The triangle congruence criteria, SSS, SAS, ASA, all require three pieces of information. It is interesting, however, that not all three pieces of information about sides and angles are sufficient to determine a triangle up to congruence.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does SAS Work?:

This problem solving task challenges students to explain the reason why the given triangles are congruent, and to construct reflections of the points.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Isosceles Triangles:

This activity uses rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Equilateral Triangles:

This activity is one in a series of tasks using rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles, with this task in particular focusing on the class of equilaterial triangles

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflected Triangles:

This task asks students to use a straightedge and compass to construct the line across which a triangle is reflected.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why does SSS work?:

This particular problem solving task exhibits congruency between two triangles, demonstrating translation, reflection and rotation.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting octagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular octagon to construct a pattern of four octagons enclosing a quadrilateral: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce that the quadrilateral is actually a square.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting hexagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular hexagon to construct a pattern of six hexagons enclosing a seventh: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce this seven hexagon pattern.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Is This a Rectangle?:

The goal of this task is to provide an opportunity for students to apply a wide range of ideas from geometry and algebra in order to show that a given quadrilateral is a rectangle. Creativity will be essential here as the only given information is the Cartesian coordinates of the quadrilateral's vertices. Using this information to show that the four angles are right angles will require some auxiliary constructions. Students will need ample time and, for some of the methods provided below, guidance. The reward of going through this task thoroughly should justify the effort because it provides students an opportunity to see multiple geometric and algebraic constructions unified to achieve a common purpose. The teacher may wish to have students first brainstorm for methods of showing that a quadrilateral is rectangle (before presenting them with the explicit coordinates of the rectangle for this problem): ideally, they can then divide into groups and get to work straightaway once presented with the coordinates of the quadrilateral for this problem.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Problem-Solving Tasks

Partitioning a Hexagon:

The purpose of this task is for students to find a way to decompose a regular hexagon into congruent figures. This is meant as an instructional task that gives students some practice working with transformations.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does ASA Work?:

This problem solving task ask students to show the reflection of one triangle maps to another triangle.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

When Does SSA Work to Determine Triangle Congruence?:

In this problem, we considered SSA. The triangle congruence criteria, SSS, SAS, ASA, all require three pieces of information. It is interesting, however, that not all three pieces of information about sides and angles are sufficient to determine a triangle up to congruence.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why Does SAS Work?:

This problem solving task challenges students to explain the reason why the given triangles are congruent, and to construct reflections of the points.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Isosceles Triangles:

This activity uses rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflections and Equilateral Triangles:

This activity is one in a series of tasks using rigid transformations of the plane to explore symmetries of classes of triangles, with this task in particular focusing on the class of equilaterial triangles

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Reflected Triangles:

This task asks students to use a straightedge and compass to construct the line across which a triangle is reflected.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Why does SSS work?:

This particular problem solving task exhibits congruency between two triangles, demonstrating translation, reflection and rotation.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting octagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular octagon to construct a pattern of four octagons enclosing a quadrilateral: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce that the quadrilateral is actually a square.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Building a tile pattern by reflecting hexagons:

This task applies reflections to a regular hexagon to construct a pattern of six hexagons enclosing a seventh: the focus of the task is on using the properties of reflections to deduce this seven hexagon pattern.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

Is This a Rectangle?:

The goal of this task is to provide an opportunity for students to apply a wide range of ideas from geometry and algebra in order to show that a given quadrilateral is a rectangle. Creativity will be essential here as the only given information is the Cartesian coordinates of the quadrilateral's vertices. Using this information to show that the four angles are right angles will require some auxiliary constructions. Students will need ample time and, for some of the methods provided below, guidance. The reward of going through this task thoroughly should justify the effort because it provides students an opportunity to see multiple geometric and algebraic constructions unified to achieve a common purpose. The teacher may wish to have students first brainstorm for methods of showing that a quadrilateral is rectangle (before presenting them with the explicit coordinates of the rectangle for this problem): ideally, they can then divide into groups and get to work straightaway once presented with the coordinates of the quadrilateral for this problem.

Type: Problem-Solving Task