Title of Unit

Curriculum Area
Developed By

Triangle Trigonometry
Trigonometry
Kaitlin Benson

Grade Level
Time Frame

12th Grade
12 days

Identify Desired Results (Stage 1)

Content Standards
Common Core Standards
Right Triangle Trigonometry

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.SRT.C.6
Understand that by similarity, side ratios in right triangles are properties of the angles in the triangle, leading to definitions of
trigonometric ratios for acute angles.
CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.SRT.C.8
Use trigonometric ratios and the Pythagorean Theorem to solve right triangles in applied problems. \

Laws of Sines and Cosines

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.SRT.D.10
Prove the Laws of Sines and Cosines and use them to solve problems.

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.SRT.D.11
Understand and apply the Law of Sines and the Law of Cosines to find unknown measurements in right and non-right triangles (e.g.,
surveying problems, resultant forces).

Standards for Mathematical Practices

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1.

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP2

Reason abstractly and quantitatively.

CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP4

Model with mathematics.

Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.

Understandings

Essential Questions

Overarching Understanding

On a micro level, students will understand that trigonometry is

used to explain the relationship between the sides lengths and
angles of a right triangle. They will also understand that every
triangle is NOT a right triangle and that there are similar
relationships between acute and obtuse triangles via the laws of
sines and cosines. On a macro level, students will understand
that these trigonometric functions and the laws of sines and
cosines helps to everyday situations.

Overarching

Related Misconceptions

Right Triangle Trigonometry

Students may have misconceptions on:
Identifying the location of an unknown angle, , when
given only a trigonometric function and side relationship.
Cosecant, secant, and cotangent and their respective
reciprocal functions.
Understanding that the trig function with a numerical
angle gives a numerical answer
Understanding that the trigonometric function and the
angle are all together
Division can separate a trigonometric function and its
angle
The appropriate side lengths for the special triangles.
Laws of Sines and Cosines
Students may have misconceptions on:
When to use the laws of sines and cosines.
Trigonometric Application

What methods could

you use to find the
missing side lengths or
angles on a right
triangle?
When not given a right
triangle, what
strategies can you use
to solve for missing
sides and angles?
In what ways could you
apply your trig
knowledge outside of
the classroom?

Topical

What is a trig function?

How do you determine
which trigonometric
function to use on a right
triangle?
How do you undo a
trigonometric function?
At what point is it
appropriate to use the law
of sines? the law of
cosines?
What is the purpose for
drawing out the word
problems for
trigonometric application
problems?
What is the significance
of knowing the angle of
elevation and depression?
Why are there different
methods in solving trig
application problems?

Students may have misconceptions on:

The labeling of the triangle when given a word problem.
Understanding that the angle of elevation and depression
are based on the horizontal of the vantage point
Understanding that the angle of elevation and depression
are alternate interior angles and as such are equivalent.
What information the word problem is asking you to solve
for.

Knowledge

Objectives
Skills

Students will know

Students will be able to

Right Triangle Trigonometry

Right Triangle Trigonometry

Trigonometric functions can only be used on right

triangles.
Angles are represented with Upper case letter and side
lengths have lower case letters.
The letters of the angle and its opposite side are the
same
There are 6 trigonometric function and they represent the
relationship between a given angle and the side lengths
on the triangle:

opp
adj
opp
cos =
tan=
hyp
hyp
adj
hyp
hyp
adj
csc =
sec =
cot =
opp
adj
opp
sin =

There are 2 types of special triangles (30-60-90 and 4545-90)

The angle, , can be any of the two acute angles on a
right triangle
Each angle has an opposite side with a specific length
associated with it

Students will be able to:

Identify the 6 trigonometric functions
Locate the opposite and adjacent sides of a
given angle
Solve the side lengths and angles of a right
triangle when limited information is given.
Use Pythagorean theorem to find the side
length of a triangle and use it to complete
the ratio for the trigonometric functions.
Label the angles on the special triangles
and give the opposite side lengths
respectively.
Laws of Sines and Cosines
Students will be able to:
Derive the laws of sines and cosines from a
triangle
Identify the conditions on when to use laws

Laws of Sines and Cosines

The laws of sines and cosines are to use used for

triangles other than right triangles.
Its possible to use the laws of sines and cosines on right
triangles, but trigonometric functions cannot be used on
non- right triangles.
Both laws can be derived from these non-right triangles
The law of sines requires at least one angle and its
opposite side to be present
The law of cosines requires all side lengths to be known
or occurs in a SAS triangle.

Trigonometric Application

Trigonometry can be applied to describe life just like

algebra.
Trigonometry can help us measure real life situation
Drawing the picture associated with the word problem
helps to visualize the scenario given and thus helps you
answer the given question.
Trigonometric applications require problem solving and
critical thinking
Trigonometric functions and the laws of sines and cosines
help us to measure distance in general.
o They can use either the law of sines and cosines or
their knowledge of trigonometric functions to find
the height of any object or the distances between
two objects

of sines and sines.

Manipulate the law of cosines to solve
exclusively for angles when given all three
side lengths of a triangle.

Trigonometric Application
Students will be able to:
The labeling of the triangle when given a
word problem.
Understanding that the angle of elevation
and depression are and be able to identify
them in a diagram.
Understanding that the angle of elevation
and depression are alternate interior angles
and as such are equivalent.
Use their knowledge on trigonometric
functions and the laws of sines and cosines
to determine the height of an object and the
distance between two objects.
Think logically and persevere through these
word problems

Assessment Evidence (Stage 2)

Performance Task Description
Goal

Role
Audience

Situation

Product/Performance
Standards

The goal of this summative assessment is to examine the students knowledge of the unit. The
students will be assessed on right triangle trig, laws of sines and cosines, and angles of elevation
and depression. Students will have to demonstrate their understanding of the relationships given
within the unit since they will be present in the assessment. Since we are in the trigonometry
section of this course, it is essential that the students have a strong understanding of the right
triangle trig. These are the building blocks to understanding the unit circle as well as solving trig
functions and graphing them.
Assess their knowledge on the unit
Kaitlin Benson
The summative assessment will be given on the last day of the unit. Before the students take this
assessment, the teacher will take a few questions to make sure students have the last bit of
clarification they need. There will be 2 versions of the exam and both exams will be similar to
each other. The 2 versions will printed on different color paper and will be distributed in an
alternating order. The students will have 1 hour to complete the assessment. If they finish before
the hour is done, they will have the option of doing an extra credit opportunity. This extra credit
opportunity will be a puzzle sheet. If students are unable to finish this assessment, they will have
the option of coming at lunch or after school that same day to finish.
It is expected that all of the students will complete the exam. This completion does not mean that
all of the solutions are correct. I expect to see that the students have tried to solve all of the
questions to the best of their abilities.
All of the above standards should be met.

Other Evidence
There will also be exit slips that the students will have to answer throughout this unit
The laws of sines and cosines activities also count as performance based tasks. During each step of the task, I will have students

come to the board and write down what they believe the proper step should be and, as a class, we will come to a consensus which
step helps us most within the activity. I expect the students to get to different steps within these two activities, but it is my
expectation that they are able to complete the first page for all of the activities.

Learning Plan (Stage 3)

Day in
Unit
Day 1 -2:

Day 3 -4:

Lesson Topic
Right Triangle
Trigonometry

Special Triangles

Lesson Learning
Objective

Description of how
lesson contributes to
unit-level objectives

Assessment activities

I can:
- Understand that the
trigonometric functions
are the relationships
between angles and the
side lengths of a right
triangle.
- Properly identify the
vertices/angles of a
right triangle and
determine the names
(labels) of the sides of
that same triangle.
- Properly identify the
adjacent and opposite
side of an angle given
on a right triangle.
- Solve for an angle on a
right triangle when only
the side lengths are
given.
- Solve for a missing side
length of a right
triangle when only an
angle and another side
length are known
- Use multiple trig
functions to solve for
unknown sides or
unknown angles.

Students will review/ learn

about the six trigonometric
functions and use them to
solve varying cases of right
triangle. They will also be
exposed inverse trig
functions as a way to solving
for an angle.

The bellwork will ask the

students what they know about
trigonometry.

I can:

Students will be

During the notes, students will

have the opportunity to attempt
to answer questions on right
triangle trigonometry, their
angles and their side lengths.
Students will receive A #10
which will help solidify what we
discussed in class.

0The bellwork for day 3 will ask

Day 5:

Day 6:

Law of Sines

Law of Cosines

Use technology (TIInspires) to construct

special triangles,
reason, and derive the
proper relationships
between the side
lengths
Successfully
communicate with their
partner to complete the
task
Persevere through this
activity to gain a
deeper understanding
of the content
Use these relationships
to solve similar right
triangles that have
varying side lengths

constructing, conjecturing,
and finding out the
relationships about the
special triangles. This
activity and assignment will
allow students to utilize their
knowledge on right triangles
to what the relationships are
between the similar triangle.

the students to give the

numerical values of the six trig
functions for a triangle. For day
4, the students will be asked to
label the two special triangles
and to give the numerical values
for given trig functions
The end of day three will have
an exit slip which will ask the
students to give one
characteristic that each special
triangle has.

I can:
- Derive the law of sines
- Persevere through this
activity to gain a
deeper understanding
of the content

Students will be deriving the

law of sines formula and
discovering the
characteristics of the law. In
doing this activity, students
will be able to see what all is
required to use the law of
sines.

I can:

Students will be deriving the

Day 4 will have A #11. This

assignment will require that
students use the relationships
that we discovered the previous
day to find the missing lengths
of similar triangles.
The bellwork will ask students to
solve for the missing sides of a
30-60-90 triangle.
A participation quiz will be given
(This will be conducted via
google docs. The basic idea of
the participation quiz is to
identify student comments that
are central to lesson activity and
display those comments to the
class. This not only encourages
the students whos thoughts
were chosen, it helps to guide
other students thoughts on the
activity and lets them know
what types of responses Im
looking for during activities such
as these).
.
The bellwork will ask the

Day 7:

Day 810:

Review of Right
Triangle trig and
the laws of sines
& cosines

Angle of
Elevation/
Depression

Derive the law of

cosines
Attentively work with a
partner and persevere
through this activity to
gain a deeper
understanding of the
content.
Understand why the
law of cosines is used
when for non-right
triangles.

I can:
- Understand when they
can use either right
triangle trigonometry,
law of sines, or law of
cosines
- Identify key features
that are needed to
perform either right
triangle trig, law of
sines, or law of cosines.
I can:
- Physically understand
what the angle of
elevation and
depression and how
identify which angle is
being made.
- Identify the angle of
elevation and
depression in word
problems.

law of cosines formula and

discovering the
characteristics of the law. In
doing this activity, students
will be able to see what all is
required to use the law of
cosines.

students what conditions must

be met in order to use the law of
sines.

Students will understand

what the conditions are to
use all three methods and be
able to list what those
conditions are. They will also
receive a handout that will
solidify their knowledge of
when to use either the
trigonometric functions, the
law of sines, or the law of
cosines.
Students will be challenged
to think about trigonometry
in terms of word problems.
They will need to think
critically through the
questions and accurately
draw the situation given.

The bellwork will ask the

students to state the laws of
sines and cosines.

A participation quiz will be given

(This will be conducted via
google docs. The basic idea of
the participation quiz is to
identify student comments that
are central to lesson activity and
display those comments to the
class. This not only encourages
the students whos thoughts
were chosen, it helps to guide
other students thoughts on the
activity and lets them know
what types of responses Im
looking for during activities such
as these).

A #12 will be passed out

The bellwork for Day 8 will ask

the students to state which law
can be applied to find the
triangles missing side lengths
and angles. For Day 9, the
bellwork will ask students to
describe angle of elevation and
depression in their own words
and to think of a time when they
have used angle of elevation/
depression in their own lives

Day 11:

Day 12:

Review

Test

Accurately draw out the

scenario being
described in the word
problem and able the
drawing according to
the information given.
Use their knowledge of
right triangle trig and
the angle of elevation
to solve for the height
of an object or the
distance between two
objects.

I can:
- Review the material
from the unit and ask
questions on concepts I
do not understand
- I can determine how I
feel about the material
and my readiness for
the exam
I can:
- Recall the information
from the unit and
demonstrate my
knowledge on said
material.

outside of school
On Day 10, students will be
given a formal assessment
called Show Me What You
Know. For this assessment, the
students will be asked:

There is a stray cat in the

neighborhood and it gets
stuck in the tree outside your
house. The tree is 20 feet tall
and the ladder that you use to
get the cat down is 22 feet
long. The ladder also has
very strict regulations that
state the maximum angle of
elevation to be used for the
ladder is 70. Will you be able
to get the cat down with your
ladder? (Use trig to explain
your reasoning)
This review will be similar to
the exam. Here students will
be able to self-evaluate
themselves and see if they
feel as though they are
meeting the learning goals of
the unit. If not, they are able
to ask questions in class.

Bellwork

See above in Assessment

Evidence

Turn in all assignments for the

unit

Review