Pythagoras Theorem Lesson

1.  Intro Ideas

  1. Prop and PowerPoint
  2. Hold up a square - what is this?
  3. A world without this tool
  4. Story
  5. Pythagoras - 500 BC
  6. Lived in a place called Samos
  7. Imagine a world without technology, no TV, no phones, no electricity
  8. What would you do? They formed a secret society - a club where they sacrificed animals and worked on math problems - kind of creepy really
  9. Worked on triangles - Pythagorean Theorem

2.  Pre- Knowledge

a.  TPS - square, square root, right triangle, algebraic expression

b.  Cards - Hand out cards with concepts - team explain on board

c.  Clickers - Questions

d.  Mini -Whiteboards - Laminated Paper - Hold up response

3.  Core Lesson - Part 1

a.  Key principles

  1. get students to come to board
  2. use visuals
  3. avoid magic steps

b.  Set Up

  1. Get student to draw a right triangle again.
  2. Where is the hypotenuse? Let’s label it “h”
  3. Call the other 2 sides a and b

c.  Investigate with Video

  1. Show video and let student work on it

·  there is a special relationship here

·  see if you are as smart as Pythagoras

  1. Investigate - Group Right Triangles

·  Ask each student in the class to draw a right triangle

·  Ask each student to label each side

·  Measure each side a, b, h

·  Square each side – do you see how the squares of each side are related?

·  Draw table on the board

4.  Core Lesson Part 2

Example 1: SO let’s try this Pythagorean Theorem out and see how it might help us

·  So we have a right triangle with side a = 3 and side b = 4

·  Get student to draw this triangle

·  Now how do find out the unknown side?

·  Think-Pair-Share

·  What is our first step? Work through problem with students

Example 2: Students work in pairs

·  a= 5, b= 11, what is h?

·  When students finish, have them guide you through the problem

Example 3: Student works individually

·  a= 10, b= 12, what is h?

·  Have student check each other's work out

5.  Consolidation

  1. Clicker Review Questions
  2. Whiteboard Questions
  3. Paper and Pencil Question - Ticket out the door
  4. Write in Survival Guide - Key summary notes for a test

6.  Home Activity

  1. 3 questions
  2. 2 questions like the ones you did in class
  3. 1 challenges question - build it up - I don't expect you to get this - maybe someone will find the answer (give a and h, instead of a and c