MATHEMATICS LESSON PLAN Name: Moises Pea Date: 3/14/2013 003591340

1. Name of the lesson: Pythagorean Theorem based on area of triangles and squares 2. Concept/Topic: Pythagorean Theorem 3. Grade Level: 9th grade 4. Goals and learning objectives: a. Students will use any method other than the formula (Area = Base x Height) to find the area of a tilted square. b. Students will use triangles to find the area of tilted squares. c. Students will collect data. d. Students will use their data and develop a proof for the Pythagorean Theorem. e. Students will find the missing side of right triangles using the Pythagorean Theorem. f. Students will apply their knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem to solve the Taco Cart problems. 5. Common Core Content Standards: a. 8. G. B. 7: Apply the Pythagorean Theorem to determine unknown side lengths in right triangles in real-world and mathematical problems in two and three dimensions. 6. Standards of Mathematical Practice: a. MP.1: Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them. Students will not be able to evaluate the area of the tilted square by applying the formula for area of a square, they will not be able to measure the sides with rulers, and they will be expected to get an exact answer not an approximate answer. Students will work in groups to develop methods to evaluate the area of the tilted square given those constraints. b. MP.4: Model with Mathematics. Students will use their prior knowledge of areas of triangles and squares to develop the Pythagorean Theorem formula. Students will apply their newly gained knowledge of the concept of Pythagoras Theorem to solve the Taco Cart problem. They will be expected to solve the problem conceptually and check their answers with any method of their choosing.

c. MP.7: Look for and make use of structure. With the data student collect based on lengths of sides of triangles and squares with their corresponding areas they will be expected to interpret the problem and develop the formula for Pythagorean Theorem. d. MP. 8: Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning. Students will develop the formula for the Pythagorean Theorem. 7. Prerequisites: a. What do the students need to know prior to the lesson? i. Students should know how to calculate areas of shapes, specifically triangles and squares. ii. Students should be familiar with square roots and exponents. iii. Students should be familiar with basic arithmetic. b. What vocabulary do we need to think about? i. Pythagorean: Means of or relating to Pythagoras, the Greek mathematician who is given credit for developing the formula where a and b represent the legs of a right triangle and c represents the hypotenuse. ii. Hypotenuse: The longest side of a right triangle; the side across from the right angle. iii. Right Triangle: A triangle with a 90 degree angle. iv. Radical Symbol: The symbol that means root of v. Pythagorean Triple: any set of positive integers a, b, c such that . c. What do students struggle with? What are their misconceptions prior to the lesson? 8. Required Materials: a. Students will need a writing utensil: pencil, pen, etc. b. Students will need scratch paper to jot down ideas c. Students will need paper for the organizer they will create d. Students will need blank dotted grid paper

9. Resources:
A. B. C.

http://threeacts.mrmeyer.com/tacocart/ https://sites.google.com/site/jaeveeinc/home/pythagorean-theorem-lesson http://map.mathshell.org/materials/download.php?fileid=1206

10. Process of the lesson : Teachers response to student reactions / Things to remember

Stages/Time

Learning Activities and Teachers Questions

Anticipated Student Responses and Misconceptions

Warm-up (5 min)

I will begin the lesson by asking students about the Pythagorean Theorem. We will have a short class discussion about how the theorem is useful. I will ask students if they know why the theorem is true.

I dont know what the Pythagorean Theorem is. The formula for the theorem is . The theorem lets you calculate one side of a triangle if you are given two sides. Students believe the theorem applies to all triangles. ( ) ( ) ( )

Explain to students how the theorem only applies to right triangles. Remind students that a right triangle is made up of 2 legs and a hypotenuse (the longest side which is always across the right angle). Explain how is an incomplete formula because the variables are not specifically labeled. Is there a better way to find the exact area without relying on approximation by counting squares? Is there a way to get a precise answer without a ruler? Can you find a better

Checking for Understanding (Evidence of Student Learning) Before moving on to the next part of the lesson I would ask students at random to give me one fact or description of the Pythagorean theorem from the class discussion.

Guided Pass out the blank dotted grid Discovery Part 1 sheets of paper and instruct 20 mins students on creating a tilted 3/5 square. Ask students to find the area of the 3/5 square using any method they can. After allowing students to work on the problem and guiding them, have them share their methods with the

Students will approximate the area of the square by drawing squares within the square and counting them. Students will use a ruler to measure the side length and calculate the area. Students will use the Pythagorean theorem to

Students will present their methods for calculating the area to the class. Students will explain why their method works.

class.

calculate the side length of the square to find the area.

Guided Discovery Part 2 15 mins

Hand out more blank sheets of dotted gird paper. Allow students to work with a partner; have them calculate the area for tilted squares with a static y and a varying x value. Such as 0/1, 1/1, 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1. Have students take out a blank sheet of paper to create an organizer with the following columns (X, 0, 1,2, 3, 4, 5, Comments) and with the following rows (Y, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Have the students fill the cells with the correct areas from their previous exercise. Ask students if they can find a patter to fill rows for y=6,7,10? Ask students if they can calculate the area for the general tilted square x/y. Draw an x/y square on the board and have a class discussion to prove that its area is x2+ y2.

Students will finish their assigned problem before others. Students will continue to struggle to find the area of a tilted square.

way to calculate the area without relying on the Pythagorean Theorem? Have those students who finish their assigned problem work on the other problems. Can you calculate the areas using the same method every time? Explain that the x row and y column stand for the tilt of the square like the previous squares. Guide students to realize that row y=0 yields cells x2 ; y=1 yields cells x2+1; y=2 yields cells x2+4; y=3 yields cells x2+9, etc

Have students share their answers and describe how they got their answer.

Guided Discovery Part 3 20 mins

What do the x row and y column stand for? For the row y=0 all the cells are squares, x2 . The cells vertical from each other increase by successive odd values.

Have a guided class discussion to conclude the area of an x/y tilted square can be calculated by the formula x2+ y2.

Guided Discovery Part 4 15 mins

Rearrange the shapes by combining all the triangles together and the shaded parts together. (x+y)*(x+y)= x2+ y2.

Remind students that we are only calculating the area of the shaded region.

Ask the class why they think the proof makes sense. Allow students to work on their own proofs and present them as well, reinforcing the fact that there are multiple ways to

Guided Discovery Part 5 15 mins

After proving the area of a tilted How can areas of the squares or x/y square can be evaluated give us the length of a triangle? with the expression x2+ y2, explain how this allows us to calculate the length of the square or hypotenuse of the triangle. Which gives us the Pythagorean formula Recap what was discussed in class that lead to the development of the Pythagorean Theorem. Have students find the missing length of 3 right triangles. Present the Taco cart problem. How can we apply what we learned to the series of questions presented in the Taco Cart problem Students will believe that Ben will not get there first because he is walking the hypotenuse which is the longest side. Students will believe that John wont get there first because he is walking both legs, which add up to more than the hypotenuse.

prove the Pythagorean Theorem. Ask students to locate Have students and label the sides of present there the triangles and proofs on the squares and identify the board and explain shared sides. how they can to that proof.

Conclusion 10 mins

Remind students of the variance of speed between the sand and sidewalk.

Pick students who have the wrong answer but logical reasoning on the board and have them present it to the class; as a class inform the presenter why their solution is wrong or why their method is wrong if they got the right answer with a wrong concept.

11. Plan for Independent Practice/Homework: Students will work on two problems for homework regarding the taco cart problem present in class: Where will the cart need to be in order for them to arrive at the same time? What path to the cart will take the shortest amount of time? 12. Adaptations/Extensions:

During part 2 of the guided instruction when I assign students to work on finding the areas of tilted squares, I could assign the easier squares to students who are not as advanced in math and have them move up from there, while those students that are gifted can begin on the most difficult ones first then move on to the easier ones. A way I could differentiate this lesson for students that are struggling, would be that instead of guiding them through the whole tilted square concept, I could have them start off by drawing a right triangle with the hypotenuse measuring 5 units and the legs, 3 and 4 units and ask the student to find a correlation between the legs using squares. Once he realizes that the areas of the squares on the legs add up to the area of the square on the hypotenuse I would assign the student 2 more Pythagorean triples which would enable the student to confirm his findings. Then I would assign a student a right triangle with sides 2-3-5 and guide the student to proof its not a right triangle, which would lead to the converse of the Pythagorean Theorem. A way I could alter the lesson plan to challenge those students that are ahead of their peers would be to ask them to develop different ways to prove the Pythagorean Theorem. Once they find at least one other way, I would ask them to prove the converse of the Pythagorean Theorem. 13. Possible connection to other subjects and or mathematical concepts: I dont think the concept of the lesson itself is interdisciplinary but I do believe it can be altered to include other subjects. For example, when Introducing the Pythagorean Theorem, a brief history lesson can be given on Pythagoras and his followers and how they can about to developing the formula . This brief history lesson will encompass history and reading. Also, after the students understand the Pythagorean Theorem they can be assigned a real world problem: Students will have to locate 3 cities on a map that form a right triangle, they will have to create a math problem similar to the Taco Cart problem with varying distances and speeds.

Pythagorean Theorem: Proof with areas of Tilted Squares and Triangles Moises Pea Math 499 3/14/2013