Mr. Higgins’ Blog

Note: Don’t forget I am a Tablet PC teacher and use SMART Notebook just like anyone else; however, I get to walk around the room.

As a teacher, I have the responsibility to show my students the the Applications and Models of Trigonometry to my Pre-Calculus students; however, I could simply use the whiteboard and some colored markers (I love the passionate purple markers).  When using presentation software such as SMART Notebook I like to use engaging images that are used to represent mathematical problems or concepts.  I have provided you with my four day long lesson which shows my progression of the material and I explain my thoughts.

Day 1

I want to be able to give the students an overall of what applications and models are by starting with the solving of triangles.  I wanted to have something take the attention off a simple triangle exercise therefore I added the twisted 3D triangle.  I start talking about the World’s Strong Man Competition whenever I see the Africa slide because it mimics and event in the competition where the mean carry a very heavy Africa shaped stone tablet.

Day 2

I start with some problems from our the Ohio Council of Teacher of Mathematics students tournament as a way of warming up for the day and reviewing geometry.  The idea of an angle of elevation and depression is not hard to imagine; however, I wanted to throw the fun image of Wile E Coyote into the mix.  I love to talk about the leaning Tower of Pisa because I get to talk about topics including Galileo, gravity, and planet movement.  In a previous section, we figured out approximately how fast we were moving along with the spinning of the earth.

http://www.slideshare.net/mrhiggins/applications-and-models-of-trigonmetry-day-2-presentation

Day 3

This topic can be a bear for the students; therefore, I use images of our downtown area and our reservoir to put distance and the cardinal directions into perspective.  I LOVE GEOGRAPHY so I always enjoys these days.  Almost as great as the day I get to show the students that you can’t quite see Canada from Cedar Point.

http://www.slideshare.net/mrhiggins/applications-and-models-of-trigonmetry-day-3-presentation

Day 4

Anytime a teacher can use a cross curricular approach while basing most of the instruction on their own instruction, take advantage of it.  I get to talk about the history of math, science of the earth movement, and then the distance around the earth.  I have a video that goes along with the slides (I know they look a little dull; however, this is because not all of my slides could be transferred to slideshare)

http://www.slideshare.net/mrhiggins/applications-and-models-of-trigonometry-day-4-presentation

Why my classroom setup allows me to easily use this type of approach

1. I have FULL ACCESS to my entire whiteboard and can still work out problems at the whiteboard or students can work them out.
2. Having the GIANT SCREEN next to the whiteboard creates about 25 feet of learning from left to right.
3. Whenever I show video, it shows up the size of the GIANT SCREEN which is an AWESOME experience.