7th Grade Math Lesson
Angle Relationships: Street Intersections & Truss Beams
Shared by A STEM Educator
7th GradeThinking Classroom45 min
Learning Objective
Students will identify complementary, supplementary, and vertical angle relationships and apply them to solve single- and multi-step equations for unknown angle measures.
Lesson Overview
Students progress from identifying angle types in construction contexts to solving multi-step algebraic equations involving complementary, supplementary, and vertical angles. Tasks are set in street intersection and truss beam designs.
Materials
- Vertical whiteboards or chart paper
- Dry-erase markers (one per group)
- Pencils and scratch paper
- Basic calculator or phone calculator
Scaffolded Task Progression
1Task 1
A road crew is laying two streets that cross at a point. The diagram below shows the four angles formed. Two of the angles are labeled. Which angles are vertical angles? Which angles are adjacent (next-door) angles? How do you know?
[ Interactive graph / diagram, available in the full lesson ]
[ Interactive graph / diagram, available in the full lesson ]
2Task 2
At the same street intersection, one angle measures . A road sign must be placed along the straight road — so the two angles on that side of the road form a straight line. What is the measure of the angle next to the angle? Show your thinking on the board.
[ Interactive graph / diagram, available in the full lesson ]
[ Interactive graph / diagram, available in the full lesson ]
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