Notes

For many teachers of Physics and Physical Science, the Physics of Motion is the starting point. And perhaps the most pervasive relationship for describing motion is the speed-distance-time relationship. While it is not particularly a complicated relationship (unless there's some acceleration occurring), it is a critical relationship to master in order to make progress to the next level. This Concept Builder provides plenty of opportunity to master the relationship.

There are three difficulty levels. Each level involves the same task: identify four pairs of matching numerical data. The Apprentice Difficulty Level is the most straightforward. Students must use the average speed equation to form their four matches. They will need to solve for average speed from distance-time data and solve for time from distance-average speed data. No consideration needs to be given to whether the motion is a uniform speed or a changing speed motion.

In the Master Difficulty Level, students will need to solve for average speed from distance-time data and solve for distance from time-average speed data. No consideration needs to be given to whether the motion is a uniform speed or a changing speed motion.

Finally, in the Wizard Difficulty Level, students will need to give some additional attention to the affect that a changing speed has upon the numerical information. The provided numerical items are more varied and will often give an initial and a final speed (with or without a time value) for a uniformly accelerated motion.

Like all our Concept Builders, a good deal of attention is given to insuring that different students receive a similar but varying experience. Each difficulty level has three different sets of numerical information that can be provided. No one set is any easier or more difficult than the others. The set of information that a student receives is randomly selected. The numerical items are placed in an interactive 3x3 grid of squares. (The ninth square includes directions and other related information). Where the items are positioned is randomly determined. If a student mis-matches a pair of items, they will have to start the difficulty level. They will receive the same eight numerical items but their location is re-scrambled. This will force students to concentrate on their successful matches so as to quickly identify them on a second, third, fourth, ... attempt. This also provides them the opportunity to rethink their previous choices and to correct themselves.

When a student successfully completes a difficulty level, they receive a Dataway and a trophy. The Trophy is displayed on the Main Menu screen.

The most valuable (and most overlooked) aspect of this Concept Builder is the Help Me! feature. Each question group is accompanied by a Help page that discusses the specifics of the question. This Help feature transforms the activity from a question-answering activity into a concept-building activity. The student who takes the time to use the Help pages can be transformed from a guesser to a learner and from an unsure student to a confident student. The "meat and potatoes" of the Help pages are in the sections titled "How to Think About This Situation:" Students need to be encouraged by teachers to use the Help Me! button and to read this section of the page. A student that takes time to reflect upon how they are answering the question and how an expert would think about the situation can transform their naivete into expertise.

There are numerous resources at The Physics Classroom website that serve as very complementary supports for the Speed-Distance-Timie Concept Builder. These include:

Additional resources and ideas for incorporating Distance versus Displacement into an instructional unit on Kinematics can be found at the Teacher Toolkits section of The Physics Classroom website. Visit Teacher Toolkits.