Lesson Designer: ​Hannah Colbert, Katie Wilde, Emily Staskin Last Revision Date:

Lesson Plan (Due November 21, 2018)

Target Audience of the Lesson:

Senior Math Education Majors

Overall Goal of the Lesson:

Students should have an understanding of relationships between trigonometric identities and how they can use them to solve
integration problems, such as integration with trigonometric substitution.

Student Learning Objectives:

● Students will review common trigonometric identities.

● Students will be able to identify which trigonometric substitution to use in various integration problems.
● Students will be able to explain why trigonometric substitution will not change the value of the integral.
● Optional: Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge trigonometric substitution with an application of u-substitution and
completing the square.

Assessment: (Go back to your learning objectives. What will the students do to demonstrate they have met the learning
objectives? Make sure each objective is paired to an assessment measure)

● To demonstrate their knowledge of trigonometric identities, students will choose an identity to derive graphically and share their
findings with the class.
● To demonstrate their knowledge of when to use specific trigonometric substitutions, students will explore various trigonometric
substitutions in different functions and share what connections they made.
● To demonstrate why the trigonometric substitution will not change the value of the integral, students will utilize Riemann sum
approximation to understand this concept.
 ● To demonstrate knowledge of trigonometric substitution, students will solve an integral involving integration by parts.

Virginia Standards of Learning addressed:​​ ​http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Superintendent/Sols/home.shtml

T.5 The student will verify basic trigonometric identities and make substitutions, using the basic identities.
T.8 The student will create and solve practical problems involving triangles.

NCTM Process Standards: (List targeted standards and briefly describe how the lesson will elicit them)

Problem Solving:
● Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems: Adapting various strategies is part of determining which
trigonometric substitution to use in a given problem.
Reasoning and Proof
● Make and investigate mathematical conjectures: Students will make and investigate mathematical conjectures when they derive
a trig identity graphically
Communication:
● Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others: Students will have opportunities
to share their conjectures and ideas with the class. They will work with their table partners on problems as well.
Connections:
● Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole: The interconnection
of ideas relates to the relationship between trigonometric functions and how a certain identity relates to a substitution. Students
will also be able to make the connection between substitution and the conservation of area.
Representation:
● Create and use representations to organize, record, and communicate mathematical ideas
● Select, apply, and translate among mathematical representations to solve problems

Length of Lesson in Minutes:

~​45-55 minutes
Schedule of Activities: (Focus on what students will be doing and what teachers will be doing during each part of the activity,
accounting for the amount of time required)

Launch:
(5 min)​ Students will start by exploring the various pythagorean identities with the following geogebra activity
https://www.geogebra.org/m/UXQajh9p​. Teachers will introduce the activity by asking how students can use the online graph to find
relationships between the trigonometric functions (the goal is for students to see that the pythagorean theorem will lead to various
identities). After a few minutes, teachers will ask each group to share out an identity that they found. The two most important identities
for this lesson are sin2 x + cos2 x = 1 and 1 + tan2 x = sec2 x .

(5-10 min) ​To introduce the trigonometric substitution technique, students will be given two graphs of functions with a portion of area
under the curve that is shaded. The graphs can be found here: ​https://www.desmos.com/calculator/p14drin6ql
They will be asked to decide whether or not the area under each curve is the same or not. The first graph will be of f (x) = 1/√(4 + x2 ) ,
shaded from x =− 2 to x = 2 . The second graph will be of g (x) = sec(x) , shaded from x=-𝜋/4 to x=𝜋/4. Teachers will suggest various
strategies such as Riemann sums to help students find ways to estimate the shaded areas.
After some investigation, students will share their thoughts. Teachers will then explain that using trigonometric substitution with
integration will allow students to see that both of these shaded areas are in fact equal.

Investigate:
(​20 minutes) S​ tudents will explore the varying substitution techniques graphically using their knowledge from the two previous launch
activities. Students will be presented with several integrals on Desmos at this link ​https://www.desmos.com/calculator/7jmwm3q4oq
The students will explore which trigonometric functions replicate the same area of the integral. The activity will allow students to make
connections to different trigonometric substitutions that include secant, sine, and tangent functions. Students will then be asked to
share their findings.

Summarize:
​ fter completing the desmos activity, students should be able to identify the three main forms of trig substitution. Students
(10 min) A
should come up with the trig substitutions they should use when the integral is in the forms a​2​-x​2​, a​2​+x​2​, and x​2​-a​2​ . Students will then
discuss why these substitutions give the same integral values at their tables and then share with the class. Students will then be asked
to relate these findings back to the pythagorean theorem and the first activity they did if it does not come up when they are sharing with
the class.

(5-10 min) ​If time permits, students will work on a challenge problem that involves completing the square and u-substitution so that the
integral is in a form that allows trig substitution.

Adaptations: (How might the lesson be geared up or down? How might the lesson need to be adapted for students with
special needs?)

Geared Up/Challenge: Have students work on integration by parts problems that deal with trigonometric identities.

Geared Down: Students will spend their time working on the investigation and will not work on u-substitution extension problem.
Students may also be guided through the activity if they are struggling with self-exploration.

Adaptation: For a student with a learning disability who has trouble remembering algorithms (the steps in a process of solving a
problem), the teacher will provide a chart for them to use. In this chart there will be a section for each essential step in the trigonometric
substitution process. For example, there will be a place for the student to write the substitution and another for them to write the
derivative of the substitution.

Materials Needed: (Go through each activity and identify what items and technology are needed to complete this lesson.)

Launch
● In the opening activity, each student will need to have their laptops or another device where they can access the Geogebra
activity.
● Students will again need access to a computer for the second part of the activity to compare the shaded areas in the graphs in
the Desmos activity.
Investigate
● Students will need access to a computer and Desmos.
Summarize
● Students will need their computers and Desmos to share their findings.