Activity Overview
In this activity, students will explore the relationship among the location of the center of the circle, the radius of a circle, and the equation of a circle in a plane. They will also investigate the relationship between the points inside, on, and outside a circle, and the equation of the circle.
Before the Activity
Install the Cabri Jr. App on the students' graphing calculators using TI Connect™, a TI Connectivity Cable and the Unit-to-Unit Link Cable
Use the TI-Navigator™ to transfer the attached Cabri Jr. AppVar files to each calculator
See the attached PDF file for detailed instructions for this activity
Print pages 197 - 198 from the attached PDF file for your class
During the Activity
Distribute the pages to your class.
Follow the Activity procedures:
Use the AppVar to go directly to the exploration section
Construct a circle in the coordinate plane and identify its equation, center, and radius
Investigate any relationships that exists between the radius, the coordiantes of the center, and the equation of a circle
Construct another circle inside the first one
Drag points inside the first circle and the relationship between the equations of the two circles
After the Activity
Review student results:
As a class, discuss questions that appeared to be more challenging
Re-teach concepts as necessary