In Geometry, we had a super-awesome-open-question to start the day. I just made it up on the spot, and had no idea it was going to turn out the way it did.
I was planning to put this problem up…
As I started to draw it (with a different orientation because it was from their about to be assigned assignment), I stopped here….
I changed the question from a sine question to an open question. I asked,
“What additional information do you need to find the measure of the hypotenuse?”
We had been learning about trigonometry and they knew about the Pythagorean theorem, so, I thought I’d get a range of suggestions. And, I did. I asked everyone to take a minute to think about what they needed. Then I asked them to take share their idea with a partner. Then, I asked for ideas to write on the board. As students suggested their ideas, I replied, with, “Ah, okay. And how would you use _____ to solve for the hypotenuse?” And, they would explain. Then, on to the next idea.
Building their anticipation…. I didn’t tell them if they were RIGHT or wrong. It was really making them re-think as more ideas went on the board and were explained.Of course, there were many RIGHT ideas. When all of the ideas were out, I asked another question.
“Okay, there are several ideas out there. Let me ask you another question. Is there a way to solve for the hypotenuse with only ONE more piece of information?” There were many blurted responses. I really couldn’t understand what any one person was saying. So, I raised my hand as a reminder that I need a hand to go up. I called on a student and asked if they thought they could solve it with one other measure. They said YES, another angle measure.
So, I called on another student to give me a number between one and 89. They said 12, so I labeled one of the angles 12 degrees. We solved for the other angle measure, 78 degrees. We determined we still couldn’t solve it because we now had an AAA triangle, that could produce more than one possible triangle.
Okay, erase the angle measures. Ask another student for a side length. “Five.”
Okay, label the short leg 5. Can’t solve it. So, we decided we needed 2 pieces of information. But which two? Back to our list.
At this point in the hour, we had talked about many ideas, many possibilities and drew conclusions based on things we had learned. What I noticed (and knew I needed to write about) was how the level of engagement was so much higher than usual. Students who were normally a bit “checked out” were generating ideas and were “hooked” into knowing which method was going to work. Were they RIGHT?
So, I grabbed a ruler and measured the hypotenuse. It was 13 inches long. No one had suggested a ruler. So, that was just for fun. What I loved, was that no one suggested using a ruler, like they had at the beginning of the year. Back then, they would ask, can’t we just use a ruler or protractor to measure the sides and angles? Of course not, this is about relationships and we find the answers other ways. You cant’t assume things are drawn to scale, right?
We then went through each idea and tried it to see which ones worked and which ones needed more or different information. They all worked. I was pretty happy. Kids felt successful and it was a fun way to start the double block review period before the test.
I really saw how far we had come since last August. My students are amazing. God bless you, third period Geometry. I can’t wait to do this with my 7th period class nest week.
The beauty of the open question is that more kids can enter the conversation, the lesson is geared to the student’s knowledge and it’s exciting for the teacher, because you don’t know what they are going to say and you get to learn about your students. And, it keeps you very engaged, just like them. 🙂