ALEX Classroom Resource

In Module 6, Topic A, students solve for unknown angles. The supporting work for unknown angles began in Grade 4, Module 4 (4.MD.C.5–7), where all of the key terms in this Topic were first defined, including adjacent, vertical, complementary, and supplementary angles, angles on a line and angles at a point. In Grade 4, students used those definitions as a basis to solve for unknown angles by using a combination of reasoning (through simple number sentences and equations), and measurement (using a protractor). For example, students learned to solve for a missing angle in a pair of supplementary angles where one angle measurement is known. 

In Grade 7, Module 3, students studied how expressions and equations are efficient ways to solve problems. Two lessons were dedicated to applying the properties of equality to isolate the variable in the context of missing angle problems. The diagrams in those lessons were drawn to scale to help students more easily make the connection between the variable and what it actually represents. Now in Module 6, the most challenging examples of unknown angle problems (both diagram-based and verbal) require students to use a synthesis of angle relationships and algebra. The problems are multi-step, requiring students to identify several layers of angle relationships and to fit them with an appropriate equation to solve. In this case, they use angle relationships to find the measurement of an angle.