Solving Trig Ratios and Google Expeditions

Last year I did a solving trig ratios using Google Cardboards and the app Google Cardboard, but on Android devices the app is different from one platform to the next, so I needed an upgrade. I have been looking at Google Expeditions for a while now and finally had enough Google Cardboards and extra VR headsets (thanks Alice Keeler!!).

Google Expeditions was a great app and it allowed me to introduce other concepts like history combined with math. Another added benefit was that most of my students are from Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala and some of these ruins were close to where they use to live.

My favorite thing is that I can direct students to look at something while reading and comes with questions to ask the students. I didn't use all of the questions, but I did use the intermediate question when it came to the number of steps. I could direct students to use their made sextants to find the angle of elevation to answer the questions.

Here are some of the students on their expedition.

Here is a link to the worksheet that students had to fill out and guide them: goo.gl/uRcvkR

Law of Sines: Google Cardboard

Earlier this week I created my next Google Cardboard activity with Law of Sines.  I taught law of sines earlier in the year and this was a good way to get students engaged with just a few days left of school.

Here is the worksheet: https://goo.gl/1BY83U

I wanted to take pictures, but my phone was being used during the lesson.





The basic concept is that students are given a distance from the Eiffel Tower.  Then they have to find the angle of measure to the top.  The next thing they have to do is move around (I said 5-6 spaces), but could be moved around further or put in a different location.  They then have to find the angle the second time.  Using the law of sines they can find their new distance to the Eiffel Tower.

They proceed through the activity with a partner and switching half-way.  The math is more difficult than the first Google Cardboard activity I created, because students in order to find the other angle, must use some critical thinking and know that the angle you are measuring is the outside of the triangle you are looking for.


Here is the first example sketched out:

#3: Google Cardboard

My students had a blast with using Google Cardboard.  We used the cardboard app and my iPhone to take students to Paris, Venice, and around the world.  It would have been easy to give a worksheet, but giving students the chance to see trigonometry and how they might use it in their life was worth it.

Here what the students were seeing when they put the glasses on:

Students got to see different places on the world that they might not have seen before and got to do some math in the process.  In the first problem one person reads the prompt that tells hem where they are and what they are seeing.  Then they are prompted to look to the top of the Eiffel Tower while the student measures the degree of elevation from the ground.  Then students use trigonometry to find how far or close they are.

Here are some students in action:

They had four questions total, but having only 1 Google Carboard became an issue, students had a tough time waiting working on another assignment.

Here is a picture of the worksheet I gave, I will try to get the link on here:

Link for the worksheet is here to make a copy and edit for yourself:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17XIXQSmEdhvq_NgxgZAtisSu3ApAM0qSIOO4ulPCL-A/edit?usp=sharing