During the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010, many fun and unusual events were happening in downtown Vancouver.

One of them was the Zip-Cord, where people strapped themselves in their harness as they zipped across from one building to another, just like in a James-bond movie.

The Olympic spirit was still in the air. We were about to learn about the hypothenuse in Math 8. As many students were familiar with the Zip-cord, I created a scenario where I told students that they have been hired by the Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) to be Zip-cord project managers. Students were very excited with the prospect.

Students then broke into groups to see if they could figure out how much cable they need to connect two buildings together. None of the students could figure it out. With this problem in mind, I proceeded to introduce the concept of the hypothenuse.

At the end of a series of lessons, I showed students the Zip-cord slide they saw initially. Students applied the concepts they have learned, and were able to calculate the length of the Zip-cord. They all felt successful being VANOC Zip-cord Project “Managers”.

It was a fun and rewarding activity. I am certain students will remember it for a long time.