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Interactive Unit Circle Activity

1) The document describes an activity where students are given cards with the sine and cosine values for common angles printed on different colored cards. 2) Students must pair up with their matching sine-cosine pair for an angle. Then they locate their angle position on a large chalk unit circle drawn on the ground. 3) Finally, students take turns graphing the sine and cosine curves by positioning themselves at the appropriate points on a large x-y axis graph drawn nearby, with one group forming the sine curve and then switching to form the cosine curve.

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Rebecka Kermanshahi Peterson
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4K views5 pages

Interactive Unit Circle Activity

1) The document describes an activity where students are given cards with the sine and cosine values for common angles printed on different colored cards. 2) Students must pair up with their matching sine-cosine pair for an angle. Then they locate their angle position on a large chalk unit circle drawn on the ground. 3) Finally, students take turns graphing the sine and cosine curves by positioning themselves at the appropriate points on a large x-y axis graph drawn nearby, with one group forming the sine curve and then switching to form the cosine curve.

Uploaded by

Rebecka Kermanshahi Peterson
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Print two copies (two different colors).

The Unit Circle


I came across this one in The Mathematics Teacher, in an article by Maureen Macinnis, a teacher in Nova
Scotia. It seems like a terrific activity, with a lasting impact.
She hands out pre-made cards, with the sine and cosine values for the sixteen "famous" angles (0, 30, 45, and
so on, all the way to 330.) The sines are on orange cards, the cosines on green cards. Students are asked to pair
up in sine-cosine pairs that correspond to one angle. For example, the student with an orange 32 needs to pair
up with a green 12 or 12. (That is already a good start!)
At this point, the lesson continues outside, where the teacher has pre-drawn a large chalk unit circle on the
ground, with x and y axes. Student pairs find their position on the circle. This would be a good time to review
who is at what angle.
But wait, there's more! The teacher has also drawn a pair of axes, with the y's from -1 to 1, and the x's marked
off in degrees or radians. The next step is for the orange-card students to place themselves at the appropriate
place on the graph, making a sine curve as the green-card students watch. And then they switch.

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