Circle Trigonometry Art Project

The purpose of this project is to give your students a deeper understanding of the use of trigonometry in analyzing the circle. It will also provide your students with a better understanding of the use of special triangles to calculate the coordinates of certain points on the circle. It will also provide them with a fun, interesting and colorful way to display the various circle parameters (degrees, radians and exact coordinates) on a circular-shaped project. The project requires the students to use the 3 basic measures for the parts of a circle and the 3 basic trig functions (sine, cosine and tangent) for the 2 special triangles (30-60-90 and 45-45-90). It has been classroom tested in my Math 3/Algebra 2 classes and my students really like the project. In addition to the construction of the circle art project, a companion calculation sheet is required for the 2 special triangles noted previously. 14 actual student project work samples are included in the attached document to give you a feel as to what can be constructed. Finally a grading rubric is included to compile the final grade for the project. The project description paper is an MS Word file that can be modified by the teacher to suit their particular class application and desires.