Pythagorean Theorem

Instructional Support What tools or resources will students have to use in their work that will give them entry to, and help them reason through, the activity? Task What is the main activity that students will be working on in this lesson?
The main activity students will be working on during this lesson is an interactive demonstration exploring the properties of right triangles. Further, using Geometer sketchpad and establishing given measurements, students can make deductive observations concerning all right triangles. In order to explore other proofs and other representations of right triangles, the students will also explore algebraic relationships concerning the measurements of squares and right triangles. The last activity students will engage in is an exploration into the Converse of the Pythagorean Theorem.

Students will be arranged in groups in order to discuss the ideas for generating the Pythagorean Theorem. Geometer Sketchpad will be used to create scenarios using right triangles and for exploring the relationship between the legs of a right triangle and the hypotenuse.

Learning Goals (Residue) What understandings will students take away from this activity?
Students will leave understanding that there exist a relationship involving the legs and the hypotenuse for every imaginable and fathomable right triangle. Furthermore, the students will leave with the understanding that the converse is also true such that if a triangle has a set of legs and hypotenuse such that they follow the Pythagorean theorem, then that triangle will contain a right triangle.

What questions might you ask students that will support their exploration of the activity and bridge between what they did and what you want them to learn (the two green boxes)?
To be clear on what students actually did, begin by asking a set of assessing questions such as: What did you do? How did you get that? What does this mean? Once you have a clearer sense of what the student understands, move on to appropriate set of questions below.

What are the various ways that students might complete the activity?
-Students may already be familiar with a squared plus b squared equals c squared and not know what that means, and might not know what that means to triangles. -Students may recognize that a squared is the area of a square with side a -Students may wonder if the areas of the squares created using the lengths of

What does a^2 +b^2 represent? What does c^2 represent? How does this equation relate to the picture? Where do the values show up in the diagram? How about the computer screen? Does this apply to all right triangles? How can we check? Does this demonstrate that this is true for every imaginable right triangle? What is a way we can demonstrate this theorem for every imaginable right triangle? What do we need to show? What do we know?

Evidence What will students say, do, produce, etc. that will provide evidence of their understandings?
Student will be able to describe the relationship using concrete examples. Also, some student work will show that the students are able to employ similar strategies in order to prove that similar diagrams also demonstrate the Pythagorean theorem (se #17 in student work).

Pythagorean Theorem the legs of a right triangle actually do combine in some way to form the area of the square created using the hypotenuse as a side What can we use to show what we want to show?