One of the most important parts of your presentation will be to discuss the Trig*Star Program with the students.  Also, you will want to encourage them to participate in the Trig*Star exam.  Give the date and time and how they can sign up for it, if that is already determined.  The other objective is to discuss Surveying and Mapping with the students.  Tell them briefly, what it is, why it's a good career, why we like it and how trigonometry is used in our business as a practical application of math.

For example small groups allow for more demonstration of equipment and explanation of Survey Plats or Maps.  Questions are more common in small groups and personal connections are easier to make.

On the other hand, larger groups will allow you to reach more students and you may feel that you have made more efficient use of your time.

Drawing on an old principal I remember from Speech Class; the more visual aids the better the presentation.  Many possible visual aids can be found on the Trig*Star Resources web page.

For example the "Surveying Trivia" handout gives the students some interesting facts to look for in your presentation.  A video like "Surveying, A Career Without Boundaries" shows surveyors at work using the latest equipment both in and out of the office.  Examples of Plats and Maps are always interesting to students, especially if it shows an area they are familiar with.  A big hit is an aerial photo which includes their school in part of the photo.  Setting up a total station and allowing students to look through the telescope and see a measurement being made can be very interesting.

Don't forget, if you can engage the students in doing some sample calculations they feel more involved.  For example I will set up the total station in the classroom, a prism in the back of the room and another prism out the door in the hallway, if possible.  Then I will measure the two distances and the interior angle between the lines.  I will sketch the measurements on the board and ask the students to solve for the unknown distance through the wall.  If they seem unsure on how to approach the problem I will help them determine that they must use the law of cosines and I will fill out the equation on the board, then all students can pitch and run the numbers on their calculators and come up with an answer.

I think it is also important to discuss what they should prepare for on the Trig*Star Exam, such as working with length in decimals of feet usually to the hundredths and angles in degrees, minutes and seconds, (DMS).  Some schools cover DMS and the students seem to have a good understanding of this already.  If they don't its important to let them know this will be on the exam and they should prepare for it.  Also, a brief discussion of rounding should be covered.  Often students will round off intermediate solutions and use these rounded values in additional calculations while working toward the final answer.  This results in the accumulation of round off error and the final answer will most likely be close, but not to the precision needed to be counted as a correct answer.

It should be pointed out to the students that they may use a reference book during the exam if they so desire. Also, students will need to use a calculator capable of trig functions, however the use of calculators with coordinate geometry and/or triangle solution programs will not be allowed. If students have any of these programs loaded in their calculators they should be deprogrammed before the exam.

Back to "Guidelines for Setting up a Trig*Star Program"