Trigonometry and the Unit Circle: G-C.A Learning Progression

Triangles, and circles, and pi, oh my!  These, and many other terms are thrown around in class but what do they all really mean and when are they used? Geometry class, namely the trigonometric section of geometry. That is, taking students’ knowledge of right triangles and the associated properties, and applying that knowledge to find trigonometric ratios sine, cosine and tangent. To help students understand the connection between right triangles and trig, we introduce the unit circle using GeoGebra so students are able to visually watch the angles change and see the relation between angle measures in degrees and radians. This is just the tip of the ice burg that is geometry and all it has to offer to one’s mathematical arsenal. The attached learning progression and lesson plan take you through an alternative high school lesson which introduces students to trigonometry and the unit circle.

The image below is a screenshot of the GeoGebra application used to help visualize the correlation between degree measure, radians, and right triangles.

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Here you can find the learning progression and associated lesson plan with referenced worksheets. The interactive GeoGebra page was created separately in the free GeoGebra download available at geogebra.org

Learning progression final

 

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