An Article Review by Lari Garrison
lari@wtk.nslsilus.org
Warren Township High School
The article written by Ray Klein and Ilene Hamilton, "Using Technology
to Introduce Radian Measure", which is found in the February 1997
issue of the Mathematics Teacher provides a dynamic way to help
students better understand the concept of radian measure. The demo in the
article is written to be done in Cabri Geometry II, which is built
in to TI-92 calculators and is also available for computers. This demo
could easily be adapted for use with Geometer's Sketch Pad. The
article is very detailed, and the directions are well written, which would
allow one ease in duplicating the demo in his/her classroom.
The numerous illustrations are extremely helpful in that the authors used
the screen-capture method of providing actual screen images of the process
throughout the entire demonstration.
As the authors point out in their conclusion, this activity allows a teacher
to introduce students to this concept in a "dynamic discovery setting"
versus a static, lecture-type setting.