Max Maths, Year 6, Learn together, Translations

In the Max Maths curriculum for Year 6, students are introduced to the concept of translations as part of their geometry learning. Translation is a term used in maths to describe the movement of a shape on a grid without rotating it or flipping it over. Essentially, when a shape is translated, it is slid either horizontally (along the x-axis), vertically (down the y-axis), or both, to a new position on the coordinate grid. The shape itself doesn't change; it's simply repositioned.

An example of translation is provided using a red rectangle on a coordinate grid. Initially, the rectangle's vertices (the points where the sides meet) have the coordinates (−3, 1), (−1, 1), (−1, 4), and (−3, 4). To translate the rectangle, it is moved 4 squares to the right, which is a horizontal shift along the x-axis. After the translation, the new coordinates of the rectangle's vertices are (1, 1), (3, 1), (3, 4), and (1, 4). This demonstrates that by adding 4 to the x coordinates of each vertex, the new position of the rectangle can be easily determined. The lesson teaches students how to perform translations and understand their effect on the coordinates of shapes.