Stay in Shape

Good hands-on activity where students will learn about triangles and how they can help determine distances. Includes teacher notes, worksheets, and pre-assessment and post-assessments. The student will use appropriate trigonometric ratios to solve contextual problems.

Weblink address (URL): 
Stay in Shape

Standards & Objectives

Learning objectives: 

After this activity, students should be able to:

  • Describe how navigation technology is founded on mathematical principles that have been used for thousands of years
  • Use geometric relations of triangles and circles to find distances.
  • Use the Pythagorean Theorem.

Lesson Variations

Blooms taxonomy level: 
Understanding
Extension suggestions: 
Interdisciplinary opportunities: 

Engineering Connection:

  • Understanding the properties of certain shapes is useful to engineers. For example, to measure extremely long distances, engineers use their understanding of geometry and angles. Civil engineers sometimes design buildings with cross-bracing for added strength. Depending on the type of cross-bracing used, different triangle shapes are formed, which greatly affects the structure quality. Computer engineers who design recordable compact discs to store music calculate the disc's circumference (circle perimeter) to determine its storage capacity.

Helpful Hints

Materials List
Each student needs:

  • pencil
  • protractor (can share among students)
  • Stay in Shape Worksheet
  • Stay in Shape Datasheet

References

Contributors: 
Lisa Leach
Originator: 
Ayers Institute for Learning & Innovation