Design your dream classroom. The lesson plan contains an exercise to have teams create a scale drawing of their dream classroom. Pairs take the measurements of their classroom and furniture and create a scale factor for them. To finish...

The original drawing is eight units — how big is the scale drawing? Classmates determine the scale percent between a scale drawing and an object to calculate the length of a portion of the object. They use the percent equation to find...

How do dilated line segments relate? Lead the class in an activity to determine the relationship between line segments and their dilated images. In the fourth section in a unit of 16, pupils discover the dilated line...

A multi-step problem has learners finding the actual area based on a scale drawing and then converting units at the end. Two different solution choices are listed depending on the preference on which step to start first. Both methods can...

High School geometers verify through experimentation certain properties about dilations. This multi-step problem challenges them to construct examples of dilations to verify specific facts, the final step provides an opportunity to more...

The Hopewell people of the central Ohio Valley used right triangles in the construction of earthworks. Pupils use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine missing dimensions of right triangles used by the Hopewell people. The assessment task...

To take the longest path, go around—or was that go over? Class members measure scale drawings of a cylindrical vase to find the height and diameter. They calculate the actual height and circumference and determine which is larger.  

How do you find the lengths of items that cannot be directly measured? The 13th installment in a series of 16 has pupils use the similarity content learned in an earlier resource to solve real-world problems. Class members determine...

What does it take to show two triangles are similar? The 11th segment in a series of 16 introduces the AA Criterion for Similarity. A discussion provides an informal proof of the theorem. Exercises and problems require scholars to apply...

Determine whether two triangles are similar. The lesson presents opportunities for pupils to find the criterion needed to show that two triangles are similar. Scholars use the definition of similarity to find any missing side...

Help the local elementary school fix their playground by calculating the amount of sand needed near the swing set. The problem practices setting up proportions and ratios with three different options for solving. You can chose the option...

Build upon the Pythagorean Theorem with the Law of Cosines. The 10th part of a 16-part series introduces the Law of Cosines. Class members use the the geometric representation of the Pythagorean Theorem to develop a proof of the Law of...

Challenge the class to prove that the dilation properties always hold. The lesson develops an informal proof of the properties of dilations through a discussion. Two of the proofs are verified with each class member performing the...