Tap Tap Trigonometry, a spin-off of Algebrainiac1’s Dance Dance Transversal, involves students tapping out the ratios for sine, cosine and tangent to a beat.

As I described in my blog post, Dance Dance Transversal – A Guide, Algebrainiac’s the originator of the DDT activity.  My colleague, J.J. Martinez, heard about the idea and created a powerpoint slide show, in the same style as Dance Dance Revolution, and set it to music.  As I began to use his activity, students voiced their desire for more song choices, so I offered to help create more powerpoints.

The success of this activity pushed my thinking. I wanted to apply the kinesthetic aspect of DDT to other math concepts.  My initial thought was Dance Dance SohCahToa.  Figuring the triangle dance floor would be too intricate and time consuming to create, I switched gears.

Students are often tapping on desks – recreating a song playing in their head. If I harnessed this energy by integrating a drum beat with Trigonometry, then I’d accomplish 2 goals:

• Kinesthetic connection
• Easy set up

Students sit at their desks for the activity.  They either draw the following picture on a piece of paper or draw the image on their desk with dry erase marker.

View for the Bruno Mars Song

As the images scroll up, students tap out the ratio for each Trig function.

• Tap numerator 1st
• Tap denominator 2nd

Click here for demonstration

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Practice = Fun

As outlined in my Dance Dance Transversal Post, it’s crucial to spend some time practicing the dance moves or tap moves in this case.  The goal for students is to have fun tapping out the ratios to the beat.  To succeed, students must have some experience practicing before playing the song.

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Switcheroo

I switched the angle in question for the second powerpoint, Revolution by the Beatles.  Students would have to flip their triangle picture over or redraw the diagram on their desks.

View for the Beatles song

Due to the switch, I added in a warm up slide.

Warm Up Slide – Beatles

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The Powerpoints

Link to the Tap Tap Trigonometry Powerpoint