Designed by a National Board Certified Mathematics Instructor for use in his own classroom, DotPaper 3D is the ultimate tool for teaching students how to draw cube based figures using Isometric Dot Paper. Three-dimensional concepts are difficult for students because they have difficulty with the conceptual transition between the three dimensional figures and their paper/pencil representations. This often leads to confusion when learning surface area and volume relationships. DotPaper 3D bridges that gap in understanding by allowing teachers and students to build virtual manipulatives that can be viewed from all sides just like a real object. Unlike traditional paper and pencil Isometric drawings, when students draw the isometric figure, they can then see and manipulate the figure in three-dimensions as well. This enables the student to see how the object appears from the top, bottom, left, right, front and back promoting special sense and reasoning abilities. Additionally, DotPaper 3D provides an “exploded” view exposing cubes which would otherwise be hidden.
*DotPaper 3D only allows students to make appropriate lines for length, width, height and color codes them so the student knows which dimension they are drawing.
*The tutorial walks students through the basics of drawing on isometric dot paper and appropriate shading. Additionally, students are given the opportunity to draw and shade sample problems which are checked for correctness.
*Toggle between 3D drawings and 3D figures that can be rotated, zoomed, and “exploded”.
*Build figures, paint the exposed surfaces, and “explode” the view so students can visualize the distinction between surface area and volume.
*Save images in your photos folder for insertion into worksheets, quizzes, and tests.
*Cubes that are incomplete or incorrectly drawn will be ignored in 3D mode.
IMPORTANT!!! – 2D representations of 3D figures can often be interpreted in multiple ways and DotPaper3D may give you a representation you were not expecting, especially when large/complex figures are built. Use this as a teaching moment.
DotPaper 3D supports the following Common Core Standards
6.GA.2 – Find the volume of a right rectangular prism.
6.G.A.4 – Represent three-dimensional figures using nets made up of rectangles and triangles, and use the nets to find the surface area of these figures.
7.G.A.2 – Draw geometric shapes with given conditions.
7.G.A.3 – Describe the two-dimensional figures that result from slicing three-dimensional figures.
HSG-MG.A.1 – Use geometric shapes, their measures, nd their properties to describe objects.
HSG-GMD.B.4 – Identify the shapes of two-dimensional cross-sections of three-dimensional objects, and identify three-dimensional objects generated by rotations of two-dimensional objects.