Katie Carbone

Education 302/303
11/9/14
Angles and Triangles: Purpose of Unit
This Unit on Angles and Triangles prepares students for high school geometry and
introduces students to reasoning in how to prove why a mathematical concept is true and works,
especially relating to angle measurement and parallel lines. In Lesson 1, students remember and
learn the definition and function of adjacent, vertical, complementary, and supplementary angles,
and students learn how to apply these types of angles to find the measure of unknown angles. In
Lesson 2, students learn the definitions of parallel lines, transversals, corresponding angles,
alternate interior angles, and alternate exterior angles. They also learn how to determine if two
lines are parallel using a transversal, and, students can find the measure of other angles created
by a pair of lines cut by a transversal. In Lesson 3, students prove that the sum of the interior
angles of a triangle is 180 degrees, and use that fact to find the measure of other angles. In
Lesson 4, students learn how to find the sum of the interior angles of any polygon by deriving a
formula. In addition, they can use this knowledge to solve for other missing interior and exterior
angles. Finally, in Lesson 5, students apply what they have learned so far in this unit to real-life
word problems. Throughout this unit, students learn to derive formulas based on previous work
and apply these formulas to new problems, to work with their peers, to express their knowledge
in various different formats, and to build on and apply what they have previously learned. Each
of these math skills listed is also a life skill. This unit on Angles and Triangles not only teaches
students to build on and apply math, but also how to develop their own personal skills as they
mature into teens and eventually adults.

This Unit connects to students through skills they learn, but also through various
problems presented and methods of teaching them. For example, each of these lessons somehow
ties the main idea of that topic into a real life situation. In some of the lesson introductions,
students are challenged to think about that lessons topic by first reflecting on their own life
experiences and noting where they have seen this math in their lives. This challenges students to
think outside math in the classroom and reflect where they can see and use math everywhere.
This Unit is also a great pre-requisite for Algebra 1, but also for geometry and proofs as a student
reaches harder math levels. The specific group of 8th graders for which this Unit was planned is a
small group, and they need more hands-on stimulation to stay engaged and truly understand and
remember the material. These extra hands-on activities and means of representation to help all
the students engage, and these methods vary between lessons so students do not grow bored.
Through this Unit on Angles and Triangles, students will be able to interact with the material and
build on previous knowledge to apply what they have learned to life, or to store in preparation
for future math classes.