Technology Integration Plan

The lesson plan I was working from can be found here.

My educational matrix can be found here.

            I chose to work with this lesson plan over other lesson plans I had worked with in the past because I find that trigonometry is often a topic that students can be easily lost in and that teachers often try too hard to integrate technology into. The lesson plan is very basic and starts under the assumption that students are already aware of certain topics. They are then quickly split into groups, told to complete a puzzle, discuss the completion of the puzzle as a group, and then moving on and completing two worksheets.

            And so for my technological adaptations, I chose three very simple adaptations: the addition of relevant GIFs and videos, phone applications, and an online discussion forum assignment. These technological adaptations would not only integrate themselves easily into the lesson plan, but also be transformative and make the learning targets and curriculum standards more easily achievable.

            The first part of the lesson, the trigonometry square puzzle, is trying to accomplish two goals: understanding that side ratios in triangles are properties of the angles in the triangle (CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-SRT.C.6) and using the relationship between the sine and cosine of these angles (CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-SRT.C.7) to complete the puzzle assignment. These standards can be achieved with the worksheet, but by integrating the use of relevant GIFs and videos, like this and this, we can make the very abstract concept of the relationship between sine, cosine, triangles, and the unit circle more concrete. Students will then have a deeper understanding of the properties of the sine and cosine graph (NETS-S1), an understanding of how the functions are derived (NETS-S1), and the relationship between the sine and cosine of a triangle (NETS-S1). Thus, when completing the puzzle they will have a visual breakdown to refer to when completing the assignment and a more secure grasp on the educational standards for this part of the lesson.

            The second half of the lesson also relies on worksheets, the Angle of Elevation/Declination worksheet. The goal of these worksheets is to have students use trigonometric ratios to solve right triangles (CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-SRT.C.8), prove the Law of Sines and Cosines (CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-SRT.D.10), and apply the Law of Sines and Cosines (CCSS.Math.Content.HSG-SRT.D.11) to complete the worksheets. Again, these goals are attainable with the use of a worksheet and some excellent teaching but with the addition of some simple technology we can work to increase student understanding. The first thing that we can add is a quick field trip outside and the use of some phone apps like this one. By using this phone app we can have students measure the angle between the ground and the tops of objects outside like trees, the height of certain school buildings, etc as well as the distance from where they are standing to the objects base. Using this information we can then have students use the Law of Sines and Cosines to compute the other measurements of the triangle, record this information, and share it with the class. This way, instead of filling out a worksheet on a topic that requires some abstract thinking, we can have a plethora of real world examples of ways in which the Law of Sines and Cosines can be applied that students can think concretely about and refer back to.

            Furthermore, by asking students to go home and record the data of an object they find around the house and posing a question using this data on an online discussion forum we can increase student understanding of, again, how the Law of Sines and Cosines can be applied and also how questions using the Law of Sines and Cosines are structured. Students will also be asked to answer at least one of their classmates unanswered questions so as to get more practice and to better form a classroom community. Thus by integrating the technology into this half of the lesson we have shown students easy ways to use technology to gather data (NETS-S3), apply the data they collected to answer problems (NETS-S3), and use critical thinking skills to ask, answer, and critique authentic questions (NETS-S4) while also reinforcing the core standards of the lesson and the learning target.

            As I've stated again and again, these core standards are attainable with just the use of the provided worksheets. Likewise, technology is not always going to be a transformative addition to a lesson. However, by using the technologies detailed above, in conjunction with the strategies provided, we can enhance the overall lesson and provide students with a deeper, clearer, and more confident understanding of the material.