Students have been learning a lot about right triangles. First, they started by looking at the Pythagorean Theorem. Students drew right triangles with squares on each side, and cut and rearranged the squares to show that the area of the largest one was equal to the areas of the smaller two combined. Students used the Pythagorean Theorem to answer questions involving right triangles in real life, such as determining how far a catcher would need to throw a ball to catch a player stealing second base.
Students then applied the Pythagorean Theorem to points in a coordinate plane to find the distance between two points. We played a game, entitled "Save the Hikers." The premise was that they were doctors trying to decide in what order to attend to 3 hurt hikers so they would get to each of them as quickly as possible. Students determined the distances between each hiker's location. After a few rounds, some students decided to try to find the longest route possible instead of the shortest. Here are the rules for this activity: Save the Hikers
To wrap up our unit on right triangles, students looked at trigonometric ratios. They started by looking at the ratios of sides in similar triangles, and determining that the ratios were the same regardless of the triangles' sizes. Students then learned the names for the ratios and used their understanding of these ratios to determine the missing length of a side in a right triangle using a given side and angle. They applied their knowledge of trigonometric ratios to determine how tall a ladder can reach if it is placed at a safe angle with the ground, and thought about how long a firetruck's ladder would have to be to reach the top of a building.
Students then applied the Pythagorean Theorem to points in a coordinate plane to find the distance between two points. We played a game, entitled "Save the Hikers." The premise was that they were doctors trying to decide in what order to attend to 3 hurt hikers so they would get to each of them as quickly as possible. Students determined the distances between each hiker's location. After a few rounds, some students decided to try to find the longest route possible instead of the shortest. Here are the rules for this activity: Save the Hikers
To wrap up our unit on right triangles, students looked at trigonometric ratios. They started by looking at the ratios of sides in similar triangles, and determining that the ratios were the same regardless of the triangles' sizes. Students then learned the names for the ratios and used their understanding of these ratios to determine the missing length of a side in a right triangle using a given side and angle. They applied their knowledge of trigonometric ratios to determine how tall a ladder can reach if it is placed at a safe angle with the ground, and thought about how long a firetruck's ladder would have to be to reach the top of a building.