TES Maths ROTW: Trigonometry picture pairs

TES Maths Resource of the Week

Resource title: Trigonometry picture pairs game

Resource author: bennyjohn5

What is it?

For years I have been blown away by TES authors’ proficiency on Excel. Now, some teachers are going one better and displaying a whole manner of awe-inspiring skills on PowerPoint, when all I can manage is to get the odd line of text bouncing in! This particular resource is an incredibly well-designed, interactive matching activity that tests students’ understanding of Pythagoras' theorum and trigonometry.

Students must match the pictures up in pairs ensuring they can label sides, choose the correct trigonometric ratio and rearrange the formulae correctly. Along the way, key misconceptions can be identified and hopefully resolved.

How can it be used?

This activity can be used by one player or two players, thus lending itself well to a number of different scenarios. Students could embark upon some independent revision, or play against a partner in a computer room. Or the activity could be projected up for the whole class for them to complete on their own or in two teams. 

The choice of numbers has been carefully designed to reveal some key misconceptions students have so I would recommend using it with the whole class so students can argue, discuss and crucially resolve any nasty lingering misconceptions. And then there is the opportunity for students to create their own activity.

Craig Barton

Craig is a secondary maths teacher in the North of England.