What is it?

I love finding a new type of resource – one that can be adapted and used for lots of different topics. And I think this lovely resource from Ms Steel fits the bill perfectly. It is a kind of “join the dots” activity to help students practise entering basic trigonometric and inverse trigonometric functions into their calculators. This is, of course, an essential skill they need to develop before they master SOHCAHTOA and all the follows. There is even a cheeky bit of rounding thrown into the mix for good measure. It is both self-marking and engaging to students, which makes it an essential resource in my eyes.

How can it be used?

As I say, this “dot to dot” type of activity has a lot of potential to be adapted for a whole range of mathematical topics. All you need are a series of questions and answered arranged in a pattern on a page. Used like this it is a fun way for students to practise basic skills. But how about turning it on its head and challenging your students to create one of these themselves. If you do this with Year 11s when you have finished teaching the content for the GCSE, and you give each student a different topic, then you immediately have a range of high quality revision resources for the whole class. Lovely stuff.

Thank you for sharing!

Craig Barton

Download Using a Calculator for Trig

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