Anno, M. (1987). Anno's Math Games (three volumes). New York: Philomel Books, Gardner, M. (1974). Mathematical Games—on the Fanciful History and the Creative Challenges of the Puzzle Game of Tangrams, Scientific American, Aug. 98–103. Gardner, M. (1974). More on Tangrams, Scientific American, Sep. 187–191. Slocum, Jerry, et al. (2003). The Tangram book: The story of the Chinese puzzle with over 2000 puzzles to solve. New York: Sterling Publishing Company.
Instructions for group exercise:
1. Copy or print out this puzzle template.
2. Cut out the seven shapes following the lines.
3. Use these seven shapes to create shapes such as boat, candle, cat, chair, dog, house, person holding a bowl, rabbit, rocket, or swan.
4. You may also create your own tangram puzzles.

5. The class should be divided so that some people do it alone, some in pairs, and others in trios.
6. Each individual or team should work to create as many different tangram shapes as possible within ten minutes.
7. After ten minutes, record how many (and which) tangrams were able to be recreated.
8. Answer the following questions:
• Did enjoyment of the task vary based on solo vs. team performance?
• Did performance of the task vary based on whether you completed the task solo, in pairs, or in trios?
• Was there evidence of social loafing?
• Which team roles did you observe being performed?
• If the team is awarded $10, how do you think it should be divided up? Why or why not?
• How did team effectiveness depend on team composition or processes?

Tangram Puzzle
• Originated in China
• Brought to the United States in 1815
• Means "seven boards of skill" in Chinese
• The seven pieces are called a "tans"
• There are two large, one medium, and two small triangles as well as one square and one parallelogram
• Over 6,500 different tangram figure problems have been created.

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Objective of the puzzle:
Use all seven pieces to create figures.
Can you create the following figures?

• Boat
• Candle
• Cat
• Chair
• Dog
• House
• Person holding a bowl
• Rabbit
• Rocket
• Swan (shown above)