Signs of Trig Functions in Each Quadrant Foldable

I had my students create this foldable to help them remember the signs of trig functions in each quadrant. We glued the resulting foldable in our trigonometry interactive notebooks.

They were quick to ask how they should do this?  I simply told them to pick a point in that quadrant and find the sine/cosine/tangent value.  I didn’t give them any more guidance than that.

When I studied trig in high school, I was taught the “All Students Take Calculus” mnemonic device for remembering which trig functions were positive in which quadrant.  I am trying my hardest to not use a mnenomic device for this at all this year.  I want my students to know why certain trig functions have certain signs.  In the past, I taught it to my students as a thing to memorize.  It’s not something that has to be memorized.  It’s something that can be understood.

To my trig students of two years ago, I am so, so sorry for taking away so many chances for you to do some thinking on your own.

Here’s what the old version of this foldable looked like with the mnemonic device.