Calculating the angles for sectors in pie charts involves some useful thinking, says Colin Foster…
In this lesson, students learn how to calculate the angles of the sectors in a pie chart for various data presented in frequency tables.
This is something that students will often learn in a mechanical fashion, and as a consequence, become confused over when to multiply or divide, and where the ‘360’ is supposed to go.
In this lesson, students build up to these calculations from simple examples. The aim is to work with students’ understanding of the situation, rather than with meaningless rules.
Why teach this?
This lesson invites students to draw pie charts from different sets of data and to compare what they tell us.
Key curriculum links
- Construct and interpret appropriate tables, charts, and diagrams
- Types covered include frequency tables, bar charts and pie charts
DOWNLOAD A FREE RESOURCE!
Calculating angles in a pie chart – KS3 maths lesson plan
Similar resources
- GCSE maths revision worksheets – 90+ free sheets with answers (Foundation & Higher)
- Trigonometry in right-angled triangles – KS3 maths lesson plan
- Maths and science – How to embed maths in KS4 science
- Equivalent fractions – Card sort activity for KS2 / KS3 maths
- Sketching quadratic graphs – KS3 maths worksheet with answers
