Law of Sines: Ambiguous Case

I have struggled with teaching ambiguous case in the past. I mean - the students just don't see the connection. Even though my lesson isn't completely perfect now, I think this activity that I found online really helps the students to visualize the triangles. (At least half of my students fully understood - which is way more than usual with just notes.)

I tweaked the activity a little - Law of Sines: Ambiguous Case

Here's the gist: Students move and use the strip of paper as side a on their triangle. The students must go through some scenarios with the strip. In the end, they should see that depending on the length of side a, zero, one, or two triangles could be formed.

There were still some students that didn't understand the second triangle, but I really think that the visual aspect of this activity helped some that I wouldn't have reached otherwise.

This was a short lesson. If I have more time next year, I think I will add on to this activity and make students find the angle and two sides for each scenario. I don't know - just thinking about how I can make it better.

~RJ

Comments

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