Technology Tips: Using Technology to Introduce Radian Measure

Each year, at the beginning of the trigonometry unit, many mathematics teachers are faced with the challenge of effectively introducing the concept of radian measure. One approach is to use manipulatives to explain how many radii fit around a circle. Students can cut a pipe cleaner so that it has th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Mathematics teacher 1997-02, Vol.90 (2), p.168-172
Main Authors: Klein, Raymond J., Hamilton, Ilene
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Each year, at the beginning of the trigonometry unit, many mathematics teachers are faced with the challenge of effectively introducing the concept of radian measure. One approach is to use manipulatives to explain how many radii fit around a circle. Students can cut a pipe cleaner so that it has the same length as the radius of an arbitrary circle and then find how many of these same-length sections fit around the circle. This idea led us to the following classroom-related activity that accomplishes, in a similar fashion, the same result. The technology used for this activity is the Cabri Geometry II software (Bellemain and Laborde 1995) for the computer or the built-in geometry software based on Cabri Geometry II that is found in the TI-92 advanced graphing calculator.
ISSN:0025-5769
2330-0582
DOI:10.5951/MT.90.2.0168