top Working with Geometer's Sketchpad
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.pdf files require Acrobat Reader (free)

       Materials and directions presented on these pages are designed for
  Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or higher.  They are not applicable to GSP 3.0.  
       Accompanying worksheets are in .pdf format and require free Acobat Reader.

Below, you will find the headings: Pre-Made Materials, From Scratch Matierials, and Tidbits of Information.

g Pre-Made Materials:

Oftentimes it is difficult to find the time for a class to create their own Geometer's Sketchpad activities from scratch.  This is especially true if the class is not well versed in using the software.

Don't let the lack of  time or software experience stop you and your students from enjoying the benefits of this amazing teaching tool.  Both of these drawbacks can be easily remedied by utilizing already prepared exploration files with "simple to use" directions.  Such files can be used for lesson demonstrations or student explorations.  An accompanying worksheet for student explorations will help to keep the students focused and on task. 

The files below are already prepared explorations in Geometer's Sketchpad.  The work of creating the diagrams and exploration situations has already been completed.  The files are ready for use with only a minimal amount of pre-instruction.  Most of these GSP files have accompanying worksheets.

(Pre-Made Materials for use with Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or higher-- not GSP 3.0)

Title Course Description

Hitting the Slopes with Ski Bird

PreAlgebra
Algebra

Help students to understand the concept of slope and equations of lines.  Works well as a class demonstration.

Examining Angles
in Polygons

Geometry

Help students to discover or reinforce the angle formulas associated with polygons. 
Shows best on 1024 x 768 screen (or larger)

Quadrilaterals

Geometry

Investigate the parallelogram, rectangle, square, rhombus, and isosceles trapezoid.
Shows best on 800 x 600 screen (or larger).

Transformations

Geometry

Investigate reflections, translations, glide reflections, dilations, rotations 90º, 180º, 270º or any degree, and composition of reflections.  Animations included on several pages.  Usable at various grade levels.
Shows best on 1024 x 768 screen (or larger)

Examining Angles in Circles

Geometry

Investigate central angles, inscribed angles, angles formed by a tangent and chord, angles formed by intersecting chords, angels formed by two secants, angles formed by a tangent and a secant, and angles formed by two tangents.
Shows best on 1024 x 768 screen (or larger)

Examining Segments in Circles

Geometry

Investigate the segment relationships in circles relating to chords, secants and tangents.
Shows best on 1024 x 768 screen (or larger)

Trigonometric Functions

Algebra 2

Investigate sine, cosine, tangent, cosecant, secant, cotangent, sine inverse, cosine inverse, and tangent inverse function graphs.
Shows best on 1024 x 768 screen (or larger)

Functions

Algebra 2
(PreCalculus)

Investigate constant, linear, quadratic, cubic, square root, cube root, absolute value, rational, natural log, and exponential functions.  Parent functions and full form functions for modification are present.
Shows best on 800 x 600 screen (or larger)


g From-Scratch Materials:
So you have access to a computer lab completely loaded with Geometer's Sketchpad and you are
wondering what you should do with this luxury.  How should you present GSP instruction to your students?

What type of worksheets do you need to keep the students on task as they learn to manipulate this
 software package?

The files below are worksheets designed to lead students through developing their own GSP files.  The worksheets present directions and investigative questions.  The teacher should have a basic working knowledge of the GSP software in order to troubleshoot problems when students go astray.  Simply pre-running the worksheets to see what is involved should be sufficient preparation.

(From-Scratch Materials for use with Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or higher-- not GSP 3.0)
Title Grade Level Description

Transformations

Geometry

Complete direction sheets for developing and investigating line reflections, point reflections, dilations, translations, rotations, and glide reflections. 

Tangents to a Circle from an External Point

Geometry

Step-by-step directions for constructing tangents to a circle from an external point.

Angles and Parallel Lines

Geometry

Step-by-step directions for investigating parallel and non-parallel lines and angles.  Directions sheet and observation sheet.

 

g Demo Files:

 This section is a compilation of single file slides that are appropriate for classroom demonstrations with Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or  higher. 

(Demo files for Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or higher-- not GSP 3.0)

Box-Volume

Make an open-top box from a sheet of paper by cutting squares out of the corners.  See how the volume of the box changes as the sides of the squares change.

 

g Tidbits of Information:

 This section is a compilation of tidbits of information pertaining primarily to the use of Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or  higher.

(Tidbit Information for Geometer's Sketchpad 4.0 or higher-- not necessarily GSP 3.0)

Copy Drawings to MSWord

Directions on how to copy drawings from GSP 4.0 into an MS Word document. (.pdf format)

Basic "How to" Directions

Basic "quick" directions for students learning to draw in GSP.  The directions include:  Set Preferences, Construct a Segment, Construct a Polygon, Construct a Diagonal, Use the Calculator, Calculate the Measure of the Angle, Calculate the Sum of the Angles.  (GSP 3 and 4)

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