8th Investigation 1 –
Investigation 1 Motion and Distance
Overall Goal: Students are introduced to motion as a
change of position, and distance as the magnitude of a change of position.
Part 1 Flying Air Trolleys : Students will fly rubber
band-powered toys along a line to think critically about motion. The will use
reference points to establish the trolley's initial and final positions in
order to determine the distance the trolley moved. Change of position is
introduced as the definition of motion, and the conventional symbols for
position, change, and distance are introduced.
Part 2 Graphing Air Trolleys: Students will
participate in the design of an experiment to determine the relationship
between the number of winds on the rubber band and the distance traveled by an
air trolley. After acquiring data for numbers of winds and the distance the
trolley traveled, students will graph the results to look for a relationship.
Part 3 Road Races Practice: Students analyze graphic
representations of races between several competitors on both print and
multimedia formats. They will determine distance traveled by many different
vehicles and exercise their skills related to reference points, symbolic
notation, and using the algorithm for calculating distance.
