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Right Triangle Trig: Scavenger Hunt

SOHCAHTOA... so many ways to teach our students to remember this.  Personally, I've never been comfortable with the "hippie" story and I know there are others (here is a site dedicated to mnemonics) out there like this story of the Legend.  But luckily, RJ and I teach Pre-Calculus so the kiddos come to us (hopefully) already knowing the basics - we get to take their knowledge and turn it into application!

 For this activity, we pulled together 12 of our favorite right triangle application problems - some we made up and others have been around for ages.  We put answers on one side and the questions on the other.  We even put the questions upside-down so that the students could just flip the card up and not have to take it off the wall.  The cherubs are in groups of 3 and begin at any numbered card.  They flip the card, complete the task, and then find the numbered card with that answer.  Repeat.  

 As with all classroom scavenger hunts, there are many pros!  

  • Students are engaged
  • Students are taking control of their learning
  • Students get immediate feedback since they know right away if they have a correct (or incorrect) answer
  • Student-led discourse is way more meaningful than teacher-led discussion
  • Teachers get their steps in walking around
Of course there are drawbacks... 
  • Creating activities can be time consuming
  • Teachers cannot just do one activity a year and expect the students to handle themselves appropriately 
  • It was very confusing trying to make upside-down copies on the back.  I'm embarrassed to admit that it took several trials/prints.
Here is a copy of our Triangle Trig Scavenger Hunt.  Enjoy!

~SSB and RJ


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