This task shows how to inscribe a circle in a triangle using …
This task shows how to inscribe a circle in a triangle using angle bisectors. A companion task, ``Inscribing a circle in a triangle II'' stresses the auxiliary remarkable fact that comes out of this task, namely that the three angle bisectors of triangle ABC all meet in the point O.
This task is primarily for instructive purposes but can be used for …
This task is primarily for instructive purposes but can be used for assessment as well. Parts (a) and (b) are good applications of geometric constructions using a compass and could be used for assessment purposes but the process is a bit long since there are six triangles which need to be constructed.
This problem introduces the circumcenter of a triangle and shows how it …
This problem introduces the circumcenter of a triangle and shows how it can be used to inscribe the triangle in a circle. It also shows that there cannot be more than one circumcenter.
This task focuses on a remarkable fact which comes out of the …
This task focuses on a remarkable fact which comes out of the construction of the inscribed circle in a triangle: the angle bisectors of the three angles of triangle ABC all meet in a point.
Sal introduces the famous and super important Pythagorean theorem! This lesson includes …
Sal introduces the famous and super important Pythagorean theorem! This lesson includes an introduction video followed by examples and practice problems involving finding the hypotenuse, finding a side, finding area of an isosceles triangle, and determining if a triangle is a right triangle. It is followed by a unit on Pythagorean theorem applications.
Students explore in detail how the Romans built aqueducts using arches—and the …
Students explore in detail how the Romans built aqueducts using arches—and the geometry involved in doing so. Building on what they learned in the associated lesson about how innovative Roman arches enabled the creation of magnificent structures such as aqueducts, students use trigonometry to complete worksheet problem calculations to determine semicircular arch construction details using trapezoidal-shaped and cube-shaped blocks. Then student groups use hot glue and half-inch wooden cube blocks to build model aqueducts, doing all the calculations to design and build the arches necessary to support a water-carrying channel over a three-foot span. They calculate the slope of the small-sized aqueduct based on what was typical for Roman aqueducts at the time, aiming to construct the ideal slope over a specified distance in order to achieve a water flow that is not spilling over or stagnant. They test their model aqueducts with water and then reflect on their performance.
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth …
This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach fifth graders about determining whether various shapes have lines of symmetry.
This is an instructional task that gives students a chance to reason …
This is an instructional task that gives students a chance to reason about lines of symmetry and discover that a circle has an an infinite number of lines of symmetry. Even though the concept of an infinite number of lines is fairly abstract, fourth graders can understand infinity in an informal way.
This task provides students a chance to experiment with reflections of the …
This task provides students a chance to experiment with reflections of the plane and their impact on specific types of quadrilaterals. It is both interesting and important that these types of quadrilaterals can be distinguished by their lines of symmetry.
This task is intended for instruction, providing the students with a chance …
This task is intended for instruction, providing the students with a chance to experiment with physical models of triangles, gaining spatial intuition by executing reflections.
This task can be implemented in a variety of ways. For a …
This task can be implemented in a variety of ways. For a class with previous exposure to the incenter or angle bisectors, part (a) could be a quick exercise in geometric constructions,. Alternatively, this could be part of a full introduction to angle bisectors, culminating in a full proof that the three angle bisectors are concurrent, an essentially complete proof of which is found in the solution below.
This classroom task gives students the opportunity to prove a surprising fact …
This classroom task gives students the opportunity to prove a surprising fact about quadrilaterals: that if we join the midpoints of an arbitrary quadrilateral to form a new quadrilateral, then the new quadrilateral is a parallelogram, even if the original quadrilateral was not.
This is a reasonably direct task aimed at having students use previously-derived …
This is a reasonably direct task aimed at having students use previously-derived results to learn new facts about parallelograms, as opposed to deriving them from first principles. The solution provided (among other possibilities) uses the SAS trial congruence theorem, and the fact that opposite sides of parallelograms are congruent.
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