Suzanne Jordan

Arc and Angle Relationships Investigation

Mathematics Learning Objectives:

Students will be able to identify the different kinds of angle and arc relationships in circles and
develop formulas for each of these relationships.
Students will be able to identify major arcs, minor arcs, semi-circle, central angles, inscribed
angle and intercepted arcs.
Students will be able to apply the formulas they have learned to solve problems about the
measures of arcs and angles in circles.

Language objectives:

Students will be able to use geometric language such as: angle, arc, circle, central angle, major
arc, minor arc, semi-circle, tangent line, secant line, chord, radius, diameter, inscribed angle, and
intercepted arc.

Essential question:

How are measures of arcs and angles related to each other?

Common Core State Mathematics Standards:

Identify and describe relationships between central, inscribed and circumscribed angles and their
intercepted arcs. (CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.HSG.C.A.2)

Materials:

Computers
Internet access
Geometers Sketchpad
Students need to have a Gmail account
Link to Google from and Geometers Sketchpad file
Smartboard or Whiteboard
Projector
Worksheet

Notes to the reader:

This lesson was designed for students that already know the definitions of: a circle, a diameter, a radius,
a chord, a secant line, a tangent line, an endpoint, an angle, and a vertex. The students should also know
how to do most basic functions in Geometers Sketchpad including: constructing a circle, constructing a
line, constructing an angle, constructing a perpendicular line, measuring an angle, and changing the
color of a figure. The idea for this activity came from Bennett, D. (1996). Exploring geometry with the
geometers sketchpad: dynamic geometry for the 21st century (pp 203-204). Berkeley, CA: Key
Curriculum Press. I also referenced Mrs. L Twitchells sketch exchange files on central angles in circles,
inscribed angles, angles formed by tangents and chords, and exterior angle formed by two secants. I
adapted the final worksheet form Mr. Nippers worksheet at Alleghany high school.
 Suzanne Jordan

Time: 70-90 minutes

Time What is the teacher doing? What are the students doing?
Before The teacher will be welcoming students to class Students will come in and sit with their
Class and making sure the students get to their preassigned partners at a desk that already
starts preassigned seats. had a laptop at it.
10-15 Teacher will start class by reminding the students The students will volunteer to come to the
minutes about radii, chords, diameters, secant and tangent board draw examples of the different types
lines. of lines of circle including: radii, diameters,
secants, tangents, and chords.
The teacher will say: Who would like to come to
the board to draw an example of a radius?, To
draw a diameter?, To draw a chord?, To draw
a secant line?, and To draw a tangent line?

The teacher will follow up the students drawing by
asking questions like: Is that the only way you
can draw a tangent line?, Is there a difference
between a diameter, a chord, and a secant line?,
Does everyone agree with this drawing?, Could
your share why this drawing is a representation of
a ____?
The teacher might also ask: If I have two radii
that intersect the circle at different points, what
do they create when they meet at the center of
the circle? What do the endpoints on the circle
create? The teacher might need to have an
example of a circle with two radii on the board for
students to look at when asking the previous
question.
5 The teacher might ask some of the following
minutes questions to engage the students in the activity:
Can you think of any places we might use circles
and angles of circles is real life?
Students might answer the teachers
questions about the drawings with: You can
draw a tangent line anywhere on the circle as
long as it only touches the circle once., A
diameter is a chord that runs through the
center of a circle, a chord is a line whose
endpoints lie on a circle, and a secant is a
chord that extends beyond the circle.
Students might answer: The radii create an
angle., The endpoints of the radii create an
arc.
Students might answer: When cutting slices
of pizza, construction of circular objects.

The teacher would respond to the students

answers with: Yes those are good examples.

Next the teacher would say: Today we are going

to investigate the relationship of angles and the
arcs they create. You have mentioned a few
examples were these ideas might be helpful with
cutting a pizza or a cake or in construction.
Another, example might be the distance between
to people on a Ferris Wheel, how much of a round
object will be getting light from a light source or
using nautical radar.

5-10 The teacher now gives instruction on the task. The
minutes instructions might be something like this: Now
open the Geometers Sketchpad file labeled arc
and angle relationships. Also, open the link to the
Google form on Arc and Angle relationships. You
and your partner will work through each tab on
the Sketchpad file while answering the questions
listed in the Sketchpad file and in the Google form.
You can only submit your answers once, so be
sure of your answer before you move to the next
section. You must answer all the questions in the
Google form that have a red star as well as one of
the challenge questions. For the challenge
question you will have to submit a screen shot of
your work. Are there any questions?
The teacher will address the students questions
by showing the how to take a screenshot and
writing the directions of a how to take a
screenshot. The directions for taking a screenshot
are clicking the windows button and the PrtSc
button together. The teacher will provide the
students the links to the Sketchpad file and the
Google form.
35-45 The teacher will roam the room answering
minutes students questions, giving the students hints and
challenging the students to think deeper about
the investigation.
The teacher might answer the students questions
with: To measure an arc you highlight the arc, go
to the measure tab, and select arc angle., To
measure an angle you highlight or mark the angle
you want to measure, go to the measure tab, and
select angle., Why do you think the location of
the angle makes a difference?, Is the
relationship of the angle to the arcs different
depending on where the angle is located in
reference to the circle?, Think about some of
things we know about tangent lines. How are they
related to the radius of a circle? Does that
information help you create a tangent line?,
Click the button on the left that looks like an A
then use your mouse to draw a box on your
screen. You should now be able to type in your
box.
Suzanne Jordan
Students will open the Sketchpad file and the
Google form. They might take a minute to
read the instructions on the Google form. The
Students will ask any questions they might
have like how to take a screenshot of their
work.
Students will start exploring the Sketchpad
file with their partner and answering the
questions in the Google form. The students
should start exploring the file starting with
the tab labeled Definitions of Arcs and
moving on to the next tab when they have
finished answering the questions in that
section.
Students should be moving endpoints to see
how the angles and arcs might be related.
They will move on to measuring the angles
and arcs and developing a formula for the
relationship of the angle and the arc
measures.
Students might ask questions like: How do
we measure an arc?, How do we measure
an angle?, Why does the location of the
angle make a difference?, How do I create a
tangent line?, and How do I create a
textbox in Sketchpad?.
The students will be answering the teachers
questions based on which tab they are being

The teacher might challenge the students to think
deeper by asking questions like: Does that make
sense?, How did you reach that conclusion?, measuring the angle and the arc. I saw that
Do you see a pattern in the relationship between
the angle measure and arc measures?, What
other geometric figures might you be able to
inscribe in a circle?, Does that relationship
always work?, and How could you explain what
you know right now?.
10-15 Once the students have finished the investigation
minutes the teacher will get everyones attention to have
class discussion. The teacher will ask Can
someone share their definitions of a semi-circle, a
major arc and a minor arc?, How did you reach
that idea?, Can someone share the relationship
they found between central angles and
intercepted arcs?, Can some share the
relationship they found between inscribed angles
and intercepted arcs?, Can someone share the
relationship they found between exterior angles
and their arcs?, Can someone share the
relationship between an interior angle that is not
at the center of the circle and their arcs?
While the students are responding the teacher will
be writing the formulas the students found for
the arc measures on the board. The teacher will
ask if anyone had different formulas. Then the
teacher will encourage her students to write down
the formulas to use later.
After the class has discussed all the questions
above the teacher might pick out a few of the
screenshots of the challenge questions to show to
the class. The teacher will use a projector to show
the selected screenshots and may ask the
students that completed them to explain why they
constructed their picture that way.
20 The teacher will pass out a worksheet for the
minutes students to work on applying the formulas they
just created. This assignment may be homework
depending on the working speed of the class. The
teacher encourages the students to use the
Sketchpad file to check their work form the
worksheet. By moving the endpoints and lines as
needed to see if they get the same answer they
produced on the worksheet.
Suzanne Jordan
asked about. Some of their answers might
include: I reached this conclusion by
the arc measure was bigger than the angle
measure, so I moved the inscribed angle
around to see if that kept being true. It did,
so I found that the angle measure was
actually half the arc measure., and We
could inscribe a triangle or a quadrilateral in a
circle.
The students might volunteer to answer the
teachers questions this way: We knew that
a semi-circle was half a circle and half a circle
has a measure of 180. Then, we started
thinking about what a minor arc and a major
arc might be. Well a minor arc sounds like it is
smaller, so we took a minor arc to be less
than 180. A major arc sounds bigger, so we
took that to be greater than 180., We
found that central angles have the same
measure as the their intercepted arcs, We
found that the measure of an inscribed angle
is equal to half the measure of the
intercepted arc., We found that the
measure of the exterior angle was equal to
half the difference of the intercepted arcs.,
and We found that the measure of the
interior angle that was not at the center was
equal to half the sum of the intercepted
arcs.
The students that created the challenge
screenshots will explain how they created the
figure. They might mention that they created
a tangent line by creating a radius for the
circle and a line perpendicular to the radius
on the circle.
The students may ask clarifying questions
about how an angle or arc is labeled or the
given measures. The students will finish as
much as they can during what is left of class
time and the rest will be assigned for
homework.
 Suzanne Jordan

Here is the link for the Geometers Sketchpad file:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Rw1T9WHuMaQl6WLGsvdGlZ4BOxTcRyA5/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Google form:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdPHBUUIIm2ZI7pRtfR7kXMI0OATLq-
P6_EPDLhnRG_qNY1Pg/viewform?usp=sf_link

Here is the link for the worksheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mEJtNxv-mp-

tFus55XZ7UZl4kB6wWjnQ/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Students answers for the Sketchpad file:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ms5nbbd0FfZPt_hnBoqvtua0XDJGTVYR/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Students answers for the Google form:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1bGJ_NgQSjyHDiKkKFgfCHiUpRxO8IuDE/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Students answers for challenge question 1:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gmW2AfUlEIR9-uaywHOKVreb12UjHWcF/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Students answers for challenge question 2:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_P6yuKaXap3bqPqJuiycph0GuFqPgK9G/view?usp=sharing

Here is the link for the Students answers for the worksheet:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kqEEc8N7ulostm5yCrZqnPBvCX9_CWQ8/view?usp=sharing