Big Idea 12: Motion of Objects

In this lab, students use two toy cars (one constant velocity battery-powered and one pull-back accelerating car) to investigate motion and speed. Students predict, observe, and graph distance vs. time.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will use battery operated monster trucks to measure distance and time, and then use the data to calculate speed and make a graph.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model Eliciting Activity (MEA), students will learn how to use very different pieces of information and data to select the best "Bottymals" for a company that wants to manufacture them and place them on the market. The MEA includes information about animal/insect anatomy (locomotion), manufacturing materials used in robotics, and physical science of the 6th grade level. Extensive information is provided to students, thus pre-requisites are minimal.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson will help students to understand the relationship between distance and time and how that relationship can be graphed to determine the speed of an object.

Type: Lesson Plan

The purpose of this lesson plan is to teach students to interpret and construct distance–time graphs, including relating speeds to gradients of these graphs. The students will also calculate average speed and identify the relationship relative to the points on the y and x axis.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will collect and analyze position and time data to determine how fast each member of their lab team can power-walk along a 50 meter path.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this 6th grade inquiry-based lesson, students will be creating their own experiments based on the materials given that will illustrate constant speed and the relationship between distance and time.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will record a walker/runners time over a 100 meter distance. Students will then record the walker/runners time at 10 meter intervals for a total of 10 times and record them on a data chart.

Students will then use the data to create a double line graph showing the distance and time of the walker/runner.

Finally, students will calculate the speed of the walker/runner using the data from the graph and independently create a bar graph of the average speed for the walker and for the runner.

Then students will take a short assessment to show their understanding of the concepts taught.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will compare distance over time graphs with varying speeds. The students will have the opportunity to be "the lab" as they walk, record, calculate, and graph their own speed.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students learn how to calculate average speed and how to construct and interpret a distance vs time graph.

Type: Lesson Plan

ResourceID: 76159

This lesson asks students to:

• Create a line graph using a given set of data.
• Complete a structured inquiry lab in which they measure distance and time of a moving toy car to determine the speed.
• Use their collected data to create a distance vs. time line graph.
• Interpret the relationship between distance and time as shown on the line graph to determine which ramp produced data closest to constant speed.

Type: Lesson Plan

How about a bicycle race in your classroom? This lesson has students riding trikes to measure distance and time. Students record the data and find the speed for each trial run! Each class will graph results on a large graph displayed on wall in classroom. For further practice, the word problems change to real world situations for students to solve.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students record and graph motion of objects and calculate average speed. Lesson plan, rubrics, and sample data sheet are included.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students watch a short video clip about a Driver's Ed teacher using a Corvette to teach students how to drive. In this lesson, students must try out their own ability to follow verbal directions to act out the motion of a car by finger-walking on their own paper track and comparing it to the motion displayed on a distance / time graph. Students also get guided practice by physically walking the motion displayed on a motion graph. An interactive motion program is used to allow students to familiarize themselves with graphical representation of motion. A student assessment includes a distance / time graph in which the motion must be interpreted.

This lesson covers the portion of Benchmark SC.6.P.12.1 that focuses on interpreting graphs. A lab collecting distance traveled and time is suggested, but not required to be completed first. This gives students multiple ways to practice the interpretation of motion graphs.

Type: Lesson Plan

This lesson provides a hands-on activity where students can apply solving one-step multiplication and division equations to a real-world problem. The lesson focuses on the relationship between distance, rate, and time. The students will also represent data on graphs and draw conclusions and make interpretations based on the graphs.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson students will learn to read, analyze, and interpret line graphs. The lesson begins with a prediction activity to assess prior knowledge. Students will work in small groups to complete a lab and then read a scenario, interpret the scenario, and create a graphical representation of the scenario. Students will then need to present and justify their results. Students will engage in additional practice through an individual worksheet that matches graphs to short descriptions. Students will provide evidence of learning through a summative written assessment.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this Model-Eliciting Activity (MEA), students are asked to create a map for a family about to go on a family trip to Magical World Park. All of the family members have wants that they would like the itinerary to have in order to ensure that the family has a great time at the park. Students are asked to look at a map to decide what parts of the park to go to first that allow the family to have everything they desire for their family trip. As a vacation planner working for our company, the students will be asked to create an itinerary for the family. The students will then receive an approval from the family, but now have decided to have the entire family meet up for the annual family reunion. Will the itinerary still work or will the student need to tweak some of their previous thinking?

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought processes. MEAs follow a problem-based, student-centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEAs visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will be helping Lily Rae find the most efficient delivery route by using speed and distance values to calculate the shortest time to make it to all of her customers.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. MEAs resemble engineering problems and encourage students to create solutions in the form of mathematical and scientific models. Students work in teams to apply their knowledge of science and mathematics to solve an open-ended problem, while considering constraints and tradeoffs. Students integrate their ELA skills into MEAs as they are asked to clearly document their thought process. MEAs follow a problem-based, student centered approach to learning, where students are encouraged to grapple with the problem while the teacher acts as a facilitator. To learn more about MEA’s visit: https://www.cpalms.org/cpalms/mea.aspx

Type: Lesson Plan

The students will complete an inquiry activity using dominoes to determine what variables affect the speed of the chain reaction. Students will have to consider and decide on the best spacing between dominoes to achieve the fastest travel time and ensure the spacing remains constant by carefully measuring the distance between each domino. They will set up 5 dominoes at a time to set off a chain reaction alongside another 5 dominoes space differently. Students can create a bar graph to show how the spacing affects the speed. Students can have fun while learning or reinforcing their understanding of potential and kinetic energy, measuring distance, measuring elapsed time, recording data, making and interpreting graphs and using the distance formula to calculate the rate of speed.

Type: Lesson Plan

In this lesson, students will explore motion related to an object in terms of its change in position over time compared to a reference point.

Students will be given a variety of simple materials to create and test their very own land yachts to explore motion.

Type: Lesson Plan

Students will interpret distance vs. time graphs to assess relative speed of an object and the directions of motion.
Content statements:

• A horizontal line means the object is stopped.
• A straight diagonal line means the object is traveling at a constant speed whereas a curved line means the speed is changing.
• The steeper the angle of the line, the faster the object is traveling.
• An upward line means that the object is moving farther away but a downward line means that the object is moving closer to a specific point.

Type: Lesson Plan

Describe the average velocity of a dune buggy using kinematics in this interactive tutorial. You'll calculate displacement and average velocity, create and analyze a velocity vs. time scatterplot, and relate average velocity to the slope of position vs. time scatterplots. 

This is part 3 of 3 in a series that mirrors inquiry-based, hands-on activities from our popular workshops.

• Click  to open The Notion of Motion, Part 1 - Time Measurements
• Click HERE to open The Notion of Motion, Part 2 - Position vs Time

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Continue an exploration of kinematics to describe linear motion by focusing on position-time measurements from the motion trial in part 1. In this interactive tutorial, you'll identify position measurements from the spark tape, analyze a scatterplot of the position-time data, calculate and interpret slope on the position-time graph, and make inferences about the dune buggy’s average speed

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Begin an exploration of kinematics to describe linear motion. You'll observe a motorized dune buggy, describe its motion qualitatively, and identify time values associated with its motion in this interactive lesson.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Learn to measure, graph, and interpret the relationship of distance over time of a sea turtle moving at a constant speed.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Students will measure the speed of a longshore drift current using a tennis ball. Students will plot the distance the ball was carried versus time in order to measure the current's velocity.

Type: Problem-Solving Task

This challenges small groups of students (2-3) to apply their understanding of constant speed and constant acceleration to the task of interpreting and replicating position v. time and velocity-time graphs that display a variety of 1-D motion examples.

Type: Teaching Idea