Activity Instructions

A. Have your students work in pairs or trios to contemplate the images on Wonders of Nature: Fractals, using the conversation questions to guide their discussion. You may wish to share with students a zoom-able version of the Mandelbrot set, also available at SophiaOnline.org/Mandelbrot.

B. After a few moments, call on groups to share about their discussions. Allow the conversation to go in unexpected places, while directing it towards an appreciation for order in what seems like disorder and an appreciation for the transcendent.

Answer Key

1. Accept reasoned answers.
2. Accept reasoned answers.
3. Help students appreciate that they can go on forever, at least in our imagination.
4. Lead students to conclude that in fractals we observe the majesty and compelling order of creation even where there seems to be disorder.
5. It is a leap going from infinite space to infinite time, but we can imagine these examples approaching infinity.