Coordinates rich task

This started as a lesson on plotting coordinates in the 1st quadrant, but morphed into something much deeper and could be used with any class from year 7 to year 11. Pupils will need to know what scalene, isosceles and right-angled triangles are to access this lesson.

The first 16 slides are examples of plotting coordinates that could be used to introduce this skill, or as questions to check pupils can do it, or skipped altogether.

Then there’s a worksheet where pupils plot sets of three given points and have to identify the type of triangle. I’ve followed this up with a set of questions for pupils to answer, where they justify their answers. This offers an engaging task for pupils to do, whilst practicing the basic of plotting coordinates, but also sets up the next task well.

The ‘main’ task involves a grid with two points plotted. Pupils are asked to plot a third point on the grid, so that the resulting triangle is right-angled. This has 9 possible solutions for pupils to try to find. Then a second variant of making an isosceles triangle using the same two points, with 5 solutions. These are real low floor high ceiling tasks, with the scope to look at constructions, circle theorems and trig ratios for older pupils. Younger pupils could simply try with 2 new points and get some useful practice of thinking about coordinates and triangle types, in an engaging way. I have included a page of suggested next steps and animated solutions that could be shown to pupils.

Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!