Scaling the Mini Park – Dilation on the Coordinate Plane
🗺️Scale Map Challenge – Dilation on the Coordinate Plane (Interactive & Auto-Graded)
Bring dilations to life with this real-world Mini Park Design Challenge!
Students act as junior city planners tasked with enlarging a park blueprint for a display board. Using a scale factor of 2, learners apply the dilation rule (x, y) → (2x, 2y) to enlarge multiple park structures—including a square pond, rectangular playground, hexagonal picnic area, triangular flower garden, and the entire park boundary.
As students enter each dilated coordinate, the enlarged version of that shape automatically appears on the graph, creating a highly visual and engaging learning experience. The worksheet reinforces proportional reasoning, similarity, scale factors, and the geometric meaning of dilation. Perfect for Grade 8 Geometry and fully aligned to CCSS 8.G.A.3.
✔️ Students will learn to:
- Apply dilation rules to scale shapes on the coordinate plane.
- Understand how scale factors affect size, distances, and proportionality.
- Recognize that dilated figures are similar, not congruent.
- Compare original and enlarged coordinates to see how distance from the origin changes.
- Visualize transformations as enlarged shapes unlock automatically with correct answers.
✔️ Worksheet Features
- Multiple park structures to dilate (playground, picnic area, flower garden, boundary).
- Auto-graded coordinate tables for instant feedback.
- Dynamic graph that reveals the enlarged park as students work.
- Clean, student-friendly layout with a story-based mission.
- Perfect for in-class practice, homework, or geometry stations.
🎲 Supports Randomization
When randomization is enabled, each student receives a unique version of the Mini Park. The shapes stay the same, but their entire positions shift randomly along the x- or y-axis—ensuring students get individualized maps while practicing the same skills. This prevents copying and encourages original thinking without altering the structure of the activity.
Perfect for:
- 8th-grade Geometry
- CCSS 8.G.A.3 (Describe the effect of dilations… using coordinates)
- Interactive math lessons
- Transformation units
- Real-world application projects
Give your students a memorable, visually rich experience with dilations as they scale a real park map—coordinate by coordinate!
Learning Objective
Students will use dilations on the coordinate plane to enlarge multiple geometric figures using a common scale factor and center of dilation. They will apply the rule (x, y) → (k x, k y) to generate new coordinates, compare original and scaled figures, and explain that dilations create similar figures by preserving angle measures and proportional side lengths.
Randomization Available
If you enable randomization, each student will receive a unique version of the Mini Park. All shapes - the playground, picnic area, flower garden, and park boundary—will stay the same size and shape, but the entire park layout will shift to a different position on the coordinate plane. The coordinates of every point will change accordingly, ensuring that each student works with a different map while practicing the same dilation skills. This prevents copying and creates a personalized learning experience for every learner.
💡 Tip: When assigning this activity to your classroom, you can optionally enable randomization to give each student a unique version of the problems. When you re-assign the same worksheet, each student will get a new set of questions, helping them master the content through repeated practice.
