Robert Stone
EDRD 730
July 7th, 2014
SOHCAHTOA Lesson Plan (High School)
Common Core Standards: F.TF.3: Use special triangles to determine geometrically the values of
sine, cosine, tangent for π/3, π/4 and π/6, and use the unit circle to express the values of sine, cosine,
and tangent for π–x, π+x, and 2π–x in terms of their values for x, where x is any real number.
Lesson Goal: At the end of the lesson students will able to understand and apply SOHCAHTOA
where its needed.
Time
1. 3 minutes
2. 15 minutes
3. 3 minutes
4. 10-12 minutes
5. 3 minutes
6. 10-12 minutes
7. 2 minutes
HOMEWORK
Activity
Students will be given an anticipation guide with
statements dealing with SOHCAHTOA that they
must determine if true or false.
Next students will be given the SOHCAHTOA
news paper article and they will begin to read it
by taking turns reading it out loud. As students
read they will use the information to re-answer
the true/false statements. Students will also be
writing down statements they think are true but
are not on the anticipation guide. (the RW part of
RWPS)
We will go over as a class what statements on the
anticipation guide were true and which ones were
false and why.
Students will split up into small groups and
discuss what statements they thought were true
and were missing from the anticipation guide.
(the P part of RWPS)
We will go over as a class what everyone came
up with that was missing from the anticipation
guide. (the S part of RWPS)
Students will begin to work on an activity sheet
that has several practice problems for
SOHCAHTOA.
Students will be given an opinionnaire to fill out
and must turn it in as an exit slip to leave class.
For homework students will be asked to finish
the activity sheet and create 2 word problems of
their own that are structured similarly to the ones
on the activity sheet.
Pre/During/Post Strategies used: Anticipation Guides, RWPS, Opinionnaire
Assessment: Students will be informally assessed through the answers they come up with for the
anticipation guide. Students will also be informally assessed on what they write and share about for
the statements missing from the anticipation guide. Students will be informally assessed on the
answers given on the opinionnaire. Students will be formally assessed on their activity sheet and the
word problems they create.
Self-Reflection: I originally thought content literacy was just the need to have basic reading skills to
survive in classes other than English. I also thought for math classes it wasn’t as important as it was
for other subjects because I believed you only needed to read instructions and word problems. I now
know I was wrong on these thoughts. I know content literacy is being able to read and write in a way
that a certain subject area requires. I also know that it is equally important across all of the subject
areas. I think that reading in math is more than just reading math problems. I’ve shown this by
incorporating the SOHCAHTOA news article into my lesson as a way for students to learn about sin,
cosine, and tangent through reading and not just me lecturing it to them. I also think it is important to
be able to write in math so I asked students to write their own word problems. I did this because if
you know where to write the information in a problem you will know where to look for the
information. I also understand that I haven’t completely mastered content literacy and there are still
areas I can improve on. I am curious how I can incorporate reading into smaller and much simpler
math concepts.
Name:______________________________
DATE:_____________________________
Anticipation guide for SOHCAHTOA
Statement
Sin, cosine, and
tangent are only
used for the unit
circle.
In a right triangle
the sides are only
related by the
Pythagorean
theorem.
You can only use
sin, cosine, and
tangent to find
missing
measurements if
you are given an
angle
measurement.
Cosine = sine
Tangent =
sine/cosine
Before reading the article
True
False
After reading the article
True
False
True statements missing from anticipation
guide:_____________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
“News from the right angle”
Trigonometric Review
Complimentary Copy
The mystery of the derivation of SOH CAH
TOA, the acronym for trigonometric ratios has
finally been solved. Recently, investigators have
traced its true roots to a tribe called the
Hypotens.
This ancient clan had an amplitude of customs that
modern civilization would consider odd. Only lately
has it been discovered how these practices gave birth
to SOH CAH TOA.
The Hypotens lived in dwellings that looked like lean-tos
and rested against trees. These dwellings did not look like
hexagons or pentagons but simple three-sided polygons
called “Trigons”. Often Hypotens would describe one of
these homes as “trigon on my tree” Hence the land of
Published Quarterly
The conservatives called, “Degrees,” because most of
them had Ph.D’s and the radicals, known as Radians, short
for “Radical Hypotens”, would sit in a circle so that all
could see the conversation. Invariably, at this so-called
“circular function” one of two things would happen.
If the factions could not agree on how to present an
article, they would get very angry and separate to sit at
opposite sides of the room. If this situation persisted, a
sine would be given there was an “opposite sit” over The
Hypoten News:
SINE =
opposite
hypotenuse
Trigonometry.
Another curious fact about the Hypotens is they did not
speak but used only “sine” language. They had very
sensitive ears and even the most subtle noise would cause
them excruciating pain. Not only did they avoid speaking
but they kept their hands over their ears. Since their hands
were always occupied in this way, they would have to sit
and gesture with their feet when they wanted to talk.
Naturally, communication was a difficult process.
Because talking was so arduous the Hypotens published a
daily periodical of events which became known as “The
Hypoten News.” “The Hypoten News” was not a very
reliable journal because the Hypotens could not agree on
what was to be printed. The leaders of the two major
political parties would meet daily to discuss the editorials
and interpolations of the day’s events.
Sometimes everyone would agree on the news. If the
Degrees could be converted to the Radians’ angle on a story
or vice-versa, they would remain seated next to each other in
adjacent seats. When this occurred, the cooperation signal
would be given, the cosine, so named because the leaders
were sitting adjacent over The Hypoten News:
COSINE =
adjacent
Hypotenuse
Now this sequence continued for many years until a visitor
arrived from Argentina, observed such a meeting, and
offered a suggestion. He pointed out that if they could not
agree, the rational thing to do was to publish two bulletins,
one for each of the divergent views. In other words, the “tan
gent” said they could remain “opposite over adjacent” and
still publish The Hypoten News.
TANGENT = opposite
adjacent
Upon hearing this radical suggestion, the Hypotens fell into a
violent argument. A change of such a hallowed tradition was
bound to waggle a few toes. The Hypotens argued long into
the night until their feet were exhausted. Not only did they
never agree on the “tan gent’s” suggestion but days of
soaking their toes were required before the acute pain
subsided and many of them could converse again.
From that day forward, the famous argument became known
as the great “SOH CAH TOA.”
Name:_____________________________
Date:______________________________
Activity Sheet
Find the measurement of each angle indicated. Round to the nearest tenth.
C
12
1.
A
13
C
2.
B
4
B
13
A
A
C
3.
4.
B
6
10
11.9
9
Θ
A A
C
B
14
5.
B
7.7
A
6.
11
C
A
4.4
C
3
7.
8.
B
5
12
B
C
A
4
Find the measure of each side indicated by X.
C
B
11
9.
10.
A
X
B
X
37°
A
C
13
32°
11.
B
12.
50.1°
B
11
C
5
X
C
60°
X
A
A
WORD PROBLEMS
13. Danny Way wants to jump a building with his skateboard, but he has run into some issues. He knows that
the angle of the ramp needed is 50 degrees. He also knows that the height of the ramp needed is 70 feet.
He doesn’t know how long the base of the ramp is. He does know that the area next to building he plans to
jump only allows for a base of a ramp to be 62 feet long. Will the ramp he needs to jump the building be able
to fit in the area next to the building?
14. Bob is building a triangle house because he wants to be unique. He wants the slant part of the house to
be 112 feet long. He also knows he wants the house to be 80 feet tall. He needs help to find out what angle
he needs to put the slant of his house at. He also wants to find out how long the base of his house will be.
Create 2 word problems similar to these word problems.
Name:__________________________
Date:___________________________
Opinionnaire
Statement
Having a story attached to a math
concept helped you learn and
understand the concept easier.
Having an acronym helped you
remember the process.
This is a math concept you would
use in the real world.
Agree(A)/Disagree(D)
Why