standard_description: 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.
problem_activity: Activity
In the optional activity, students found that the sum of the angles of all the triangles on the cards was 180 degrees and questioned if all triangles have the same angle sum. In this activity, students experiment with the converse: If we know the measures of three angles sum to 180 degrees, can these three angles be the interior angles in a triangle?
Students cut out three angles that form a line, and then try to use these three angles to make a triangle. Students also get to create their own three angles from a line and check whether they can construct a triangle with their angles.
Watch for students who successfully make triangles out of each set of angles and select them to share (both the finished product and how they worked to arrange the angles) during the discussion. Watch also for how students divide the blank line into angles. It is helpful if the rays all have about the same length as in the pre-made examples.
Launch
Arrange students in groups of 4. Provide access to geometry toolkits, especially scissors. Distribute 1 copy of the black line master to each group.
Instruct students to cut the four individual pictures out of the black line master. Each student will work with one of these. Instruct the student with the blank copy to use a straightedge to divide the line into three angles (different from the three angles that the other students in the group have). Demonstrate how to do this if needed.
If needed, you may wish to demonstrate “making a triangle”  part of the activity so students understand the intent. With three cut-out 60 degree angles, for example, you can build an equilateral triangle. Here is a picture showing three 60 degree angles arranged so that they can be joined to form the three angles of an equilateral triangle. The students will need to arrange the angles carefully, and they may need to use a straightedge in order to add the dotted lines to join the angles and create a triangle.
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Student Facing
Your teacher will give you a page with three sets of angles and a blank space. Cut out each set of three angles. Can you make a triangle from each set that has these same three angles?
Student Response
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Student Facing
Are you ready for more?
Draw a quadrilateral. Cut it out, tear off its angles, and line them up. What do you notice?
Repeat this for several more quadrilaterals. Do you have a conjecture about the angles?
Student Response
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Activity Synthesis
If time allows, have students do a "gallery walk" at the start of the discussion. Ask students to compare the triangle they made to the other triangles made from the same angles and be prepared to share what they noticed. (For example, students might notice that all the other triangles made with their angles looked pretty much the same, but were different sizes.) If students do not bring it up, direct students to notice that all of the "create three of your own angles" students were able to make a triangle, not just students with the ready-made angles.
Ask previously selected students to share their triangles and explain how they made the triangles. To make the triangles, some trial and error is needed. A basic method is to line up the line segments from two angles (to get one side of the triangle) and then try to place the third angle so that it lines up with the rays coming from the two angles already in place. Depending on the length of the rays, they may overlap, or the angles may need to be moved further apart. Ask questions to make sure that students see the important connection:
"How do you know the three angles you were given sum to 180 degrees?" (They were adjacent to each other along a line.)
"How do you know these can be the three angles of a triangle?" (We were able to make a triangle using these three angles.)
"What do you know about the three angles of the triangle you made and why?" (Their measures sum to 180 because they were the same three angles that made a line.)
Ask students if they think they can make a triangle with
any
set of three angles that form a line and poll the class for a positive or negative response. Tell them that they will investigate this in the next lesson and emphasize that while experiments may lead us to believe this statement is true, the methods used are not very accurate and were only applied to a few sets of angles.
If time permits, perform a demonstration of the converse: Start with a triangle, tear off its three corners, and show that these three angles when placed adjacent each other sum to a line.
Engagement: Develop Effort and Persistence.
Encourage and support opportunities for peer interactions. Prior to the whole-class discussion, invite students to share their work with a partner. Display sentence frames to support student conversation such as “To arrange the angles, first, I _____ because...” or “I noticed _____ so I….”
Supports accessibility for: Language; Social-emotional skills
Representing, Conversing, Listening: MLR7 Compare and Connect.
As students prepare their work for discussion, look for those who successfully construct triangles out of each set of angles and for those who successfully create their own three angles from a line and create triangles. Encourage students to explain how they worked to arrange the angles. Emphasize language used to make sense of strategies used to find that the sum of the angles in a triangle is 180 degrees.
Design Principle(s): Maximize Meta-awareness, Support sense-making


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