Grading a recent Geometry test on triangle centers, I came across this poem on a student's test. Clearly this student had other things on her mind when taking the test. She should have been thinking about altitudes and orthocenters. Baked treats are fine, but they are no substitute for a triangle's medians and centroid. Also, I was surprised to hear about this student's children. That said, I hope she teaches them about the angle bisectors and incenters she's being tested on. It is a sign of a good upbringing when a child can explain the intricacies of a perpendicular bisector and circumcenter. ...Oh, wait a minute! Instead of chiding the student for being distracted, I should be praising her ingenuity. The poem was actually cleverly designed to help the student on her test. Can you see how? All the clues are in the story.
2 Comments
Maria Shkolnik
6/13/2015 01:45:29 pm
Clues or not, I highly recommend putting in images to go along with this story (as in http://jwilson.coe.uga.edu/EMAT6680Su09/Russell/assignment4/assignment4.html). I had never seen this mnemonic device - but do know of a few others: Long Island PET or LIPET under a different name; constant e as 2.(area code of Brooklyn); and you know, of course SOHCAHTOA (which was funny to my students because we had a student in school with the name Sohka.)
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6/16/2015 01:49:10 pm
Maria,
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About Me
I started this blog to share my transformation from math nerd to math nerd who loves to share math with young people. I teach high school in Hanoi, Vietnam. Your comments are always welcome. Archives
May 2021
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