Evie Raffanti

Science/Math Connect Labs

SMARTIE ARCS

Purpose: To provide a visual representation of radian measure so that students have a mental construct available to them in order to understand radian measure.

Materials: Concentric circle grid superimposed on dot paper (provided with attached lab)

At least 2 packs of “Smarties” per student

Procedure: The lab is virtually self-explanatory. It works best if each student does their own. They can work with each other, but should have their own grid and smarties.

A possible motivator may be an extension of the S. P. Inning letter used in the Linear and Angular Velocity Lab.

Sample Letter from S. P. Inning

Dear Mrs. Raffanti,

In my last letter to you I indicated our desire to hire a design team to design the BIGGEST spinning ride in the world. Unfortunately, I omitted to discuss our concern regarding the number of revolutions that should occur for one ride. What would be reasonable? 20 revolutions? Also, would it be possible to start and stop the ride at quarter п intervals?

Please forward this request to your brilliant and resourceful students.

Sincerely,

S. P. Inning

CEO, Thrills Galore

Teacher notes: The lab can be downloaded in one of two ways:

1) www.niles-hs.k12.il.us (brings you to district 219 home page)

2) go to west, departments, math, tim miller

3) click on NCTM 2002

The second way is to go to the NCTM website, annual meetings, Monday sessions and look for session #337, From Hands On to High Tech: Pre-Calc Activities

This lab is an extension of the Linear/Angular Lab. Even if the kids have been exposed to radian measure in prior classes; I recommend this approach.