symmetry for ages 6 and up

From: Phoebe Rice
Date: 13 December 2011 22:53

Hi all,
 For those who teach xtallography - we found some plastic turtles that can be snapped together in an amazing variety of space groups.  Worked well in a workshop for our students, so I thought I'd share the shopping tip.  They're called Reptangles, and we got them from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Fat-Brain-Toys-FA042-1-Reptangles/dp/B00392NSQ4

Have fun!

 Phoebe

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Phoebe A. Rice
Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
The University of Chicago

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From: Soisson, Stephen M


whoa - now that looks like fun!  Amazon just made some money off of me.

Thanks for sharing!

Steve

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From: VAN RAAIJ , MARK JOHAN


reminds me of these symmetric 2D P3 lizards:
http://www.worldofescher.com/store/Z51.html
I bought the RGB-coloured set/puzzle after visiting an Escher exhibition and sometimes use them in crystallography/symmetry teaching.
Nice to make the students assemble them and then decide on the symmetry operator, unit cell and asymmetric unit.

Mark J van Raaij
Laboratorio M-4

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From: Jacob Keller


Does anyone know where one can acquire some Penrose tiles? I think
they'd be great toys as well, and drive you a little bonkers. Maybe a
kitchen/bathroom floor made from them?

Jacob

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*******************************************
Jacob Pearson Keller
Northwestern University
Medical Scientist Training Program

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From: VAN RAAIJ , MARK JOHAN


(oops, previous mail got sent before I wanted)

the turtles would be really nice to extend things into 3D.
great find,
Mark

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From: Carlos R. Escalante


Thank you for the info. It looks great for teaching or for just having fun.

Carlos R. Escalante Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology and Biophysics
VCU School of Medicine
1220 East Broad Street
MMRB 2-040
Richmond, VA 23219

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From: Frances C. Bernstein


If you go to froogle.google.com you will find that you can
buy these at a noticeably lower price than at amazon.com,
at least for people in the USA - just search for Reptangles.

                     Frances

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From: Tommi Kajander

we have a whole street made of them... welcome to Helsinki...

t.