or a quick fourday journey on plotting movement

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Motion, Vectors, and Gliders

• or a quick four-day journey on plotting movement

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Class composition

• 26 students, all girls, 9th grade
• 45 minute class periods
• Last 4 days of class before review for semester
  exams, spring semester.
• Totally new topic (we had had a semester of
  chemistry)

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Day 1 Post-it mania

• In the hallway outside my room, each group was
  given the task to plot the motion of some object
  that moved in uniform, constant motion a
  tricycle, bowling ball, supply cart, toy Tonka
  truck, and a dynamics cart were used.
• Each group had a student as a
• -- timer -- motion controller
• -- post-it marker -- observer

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Tasks??

• Determine your origin (tile floor helped!)
• Start motion
• Timer called out 2-second intervals
• Post-it markers noted on floor the location of
  the object at the intervals
• Each group was given a white dry-erase board, and
  plotted distance vs. time
• Repeat, if possible, at a faster or slower speed

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Plotting motion on the white board
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Day 2 Review further learning

• Review with handout, students learned the
  definition of velocity
• Velocity distance / time,
• and were told to calculate
  their velocities from day 1.
• Slope students learned how they could
  obtain the velocity from their white-board and
  paper plots using the slope, or rise (distance)
  over run (time).

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Day 2 New concept!Two dimensional motion

• Classroom Intro discussion about motion in two
  dimensions How would they tell a friend how to
  get to Tropical Moose in Kirkwood from a game at
  Kirkwood H.S.?
• Displacement a motion from place-to-place, or
  start-to-finish, often involves motion on a
  horizontal plane, in more than one direction

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Hallway task

• Set up a N-E coordinate system with tape on tiles
• Plot motion of your object (timer, post-its, etc)
• Transfer plot to graph on handout
• Draw an arrow from start to finish
• Introduce the displacement vector, (which
  essentially, is the arrow from start to finish)

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Day 3 Outside!!

• Introduce the concept of blind gliders from
  Coleman-Lodes lesson plan
• Show the students the playing field, in front
  of the school, containing N E axes, and target
  about 200 feet northeast of origin
• Break into groups, blindfold one in group, give
  them markers, start at slightly different
  locations (no interference or mid-course
  collisions!), and let em go!

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Simple rules

• Blindfolded glider walks twenty paces, stops, is
  marked, and peeks for a course correction.
• Aide does the marking, and keeps her from
  crashing into trees, other gliders, etc., if
  necessary. Does not assist in direction choice!
• Travel until you reach the goal.
• Plot path on handout.

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The blindfolded glider day
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Day 4 Summarize, review, and check out oceanic
migration!

• Finish plots, and answer questions about previous
  day.
• Plot displacement vector of blindfolded glider
  motion (i.e., draw arrow).
• Check out Rutgers gliders website, plot
  displacement vector of one of the glider paths on
  image on handout.
• Check out the TOPPs website, choose a pelagic
  predator, plot its displacement vector on handout.

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The Rutgers glider data http//marine.rutgers.e
du/cool/glider/webpage/glidersiteNJ_Endurance.htm
http//marine.rutgers.edu/cool/glider/webpage/glid
ersiteNJ_Endurance.htm
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Pacific Pelagic motion tracks TOPPS
http//las.pfeg.noaa.gov/TOPP_recent/index.html