Lesson 6
A Special Point
Lesson Narrative
In this lesson, students explore properties of angle bisectors. To build intuition, students first observe that pouring salt on a triangle forms ridges that meet at a peak, and the ridges appear to be angle bisectors. Students go on to prove that a point is on an angle bisector if and only if it is equidistant from the rays that form the angle. Then, they show that all 3 angle bisectors of a triangle meet at a single point, the incenter of the triangle. This will lead to constructing a triangle’s inscribed circle in a subsequent lesson.
Students create viable arguments (MP3) when they use what they know about triangle congruence to prove facts about angle bisectors.
Learning Goals
Teacher Facing
- Prove (using words and other representations) that the angle bisectors of a triangle are concurrent.
Student Facing
- Let’s see what we can learn about a triangle by watching how salt piles up on it.
Required Preparation
If desired, prepare a plate, bottle, container of salt, and a triangle made out of cardboard for the salt demonstration in the warm-up. Alternatively, prepare a method to show the embedded video for this activity.
The activity Point and Angle includes a digital and print version of the launch. For the digital version, be prepared to display an applet for all to see.
Learning Targets
Student Facing
- I can explain why the angle bisectors of a triangle meet at a single point.
- I know any point on an angle bisector is equidistant from the rays that form the angle.
CCSS Standards
Building On
Addressing
Building Towards
Glossary Entries
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circumcenter
The circumcenter of a triangle is the intersection of all three perpendicular bisectors of the triangle’s sides. It is the center of the triangle’s circumscribed circle.
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circumscribed
We say a polygon is circumscribed by a circle if it fits inside the circle and every vertex of the polygon is on the circle.
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cyclic quadrilateral
A quadrilateral whose vertices all lie on the same circle.
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incenter
The incenter of a triangle is the intersection of all three of the triangle’s angle bisectors. It is the center of the triangle’s inscribed circle.