Teaching the Value of the Pythagorean Theorem with a Football Field

Activity: Teaching the Value of the Pythagorean Theorem with a Football Field

You will need:

Yard sticks

Pen and paper

Clipboards
(Measure using inches to avoid added conversions)
Overview of Activity:

Students will be split into groups and placed at the four corners of the end zone of a football field. Using a yard stick students will measure how many yards are from one corner of the end zone to the other. After the activity, the students will be shown how they could have easily calculated the distance by simply using the Pythagorean Theorem.



Pre Activity:

1. How to measure using a yard stick.

2. How to keep record of each yard stick using tally marks



Activity:
1. Have Students split into four groups

2. Ask them to measure how many yard sticks reach from one corner of the end zone to the other (the hypotenuse of the triangle).

3. Place each group at each corner of the end zone and have them measure how many yards from one end zone to its diagonal.

4. Have them record their data
Post Activity:
1. Have students share their data and compare it to your own

2. Share the way you calculated the distance using the information that the field is a rectangle with a distance of 120 yards and a width of 50 yards)

3. A^2 + B^2 = C^2, A= 120, B= 50. C = Square root(16900)

4. Introduce the Pythagorean Theorem

5. Practice