Honors geometry students in the 9th grade finished a two-week project that culminated in a geometry expo, a fun way to apply what they learned in class.

“Tolstoy’s Trigonometry Project” was designed for students to take what they have learned in the unit and use their creativity to turn their knowledge into a project that was meant to be fun. 

The project required students to create a story involving problems related to trigonometry and aspects of right triangles. 

 “Students enjoy the new experience of learning how to write problems and incorporate them into a story,” said honors geometry teacher Mr. Stephen Ayres, commenting on why students enjoy the activity. “I know that they also enjoy having a different style of assessment compared to a test or quiz.” 

One student who enjoyed the expo was freshman William Donnelly.

“I enjoyed doing something other than a basic test or quiz and liked making the presentation with my group members,” Donnelly said. 

The game Donnelly and his teammates came up with was similar to the classic children’s game “Candy Land.” Using problems and proofs about trigonometric ratios, special right triangles and geometric mean, Donnelly’s game asked players to answer questions and if they answered correctly they would move up a space before getting to the finish line. 

Contrary to Donnelly, Miles Comarda’s inspiration for his project was a time machine. 

Comarda’s group made a project where they stopped at different places in time and then created a situation where solving the problem would get players out of the situation.

“I enjoyed getting to make my own version of the project and having some freedom with it,”
Comarda said.

Mr. Ayres said he loved getting to see students’ creativity flourish with this project.

 “I see it as an opportunity to see the creative side I may not get to see in a math classroom,” he said.