On November 25th, Ms. Yan, a middle school math teacher at SHSID, conducted a demo class exploring and applying the trigonometric concepts of sine, cosine, and tangent.

During the first part of her lesson, Ms. Yan conducted a mistake analysis by tasking her students to reflect on their misconceptions with problems about angle elevation and depression.

Afterward, Ms. Yan summarized the objectives from the previous lesson and showed student-made videos exploring the concept of trigonometric ratios.

Then she introduced the day’s objectives, involving applying trigonometric relationships both in right triangles and non-right triangles. She also stressed the importance of students thinking and exploring independently during the learning process.

At the end of her lesson, Ms. Yan summarized the key points discussed throughout the class and encouraged her students to continue exploring the relationships in greater depth by proving the Law of Cosines on their own as homework.

Not only did Ms. Yan’s students obtain a better understanding of the applications of trigonometric ratios, but they also improved their mathematical literacy and made important connections between geometric shapes, trigonometric relationships, and the unit circle. Ms. Yan sets high expectations, and her students always rise up to the challenge.

(Written by Du Tong Edited by Hannah Bush Pictures by Du Tong)