Selecting and developing activities for exploring motion
Classroom Activity
for 5-11
Teacher Tip: Based on the Physics Narrative and the Teaching and Learning Issues
Ideas to emphasise here
- choosing a point of view
- focusing on increasing separation between the point of view and the object whose speed your measuring
- show that finding a speed is not simple and straightforward
- explicitly identifying the distance covered, and the length of time taken in order to figure out a speed
- distinguish between spinning on an axis and orbiting another object
Teacher Tip: Work through the Physics Narrative to find these lines of thinking worked out and then look in the Teaching Approaches for some examples of activities.
Strategies for supporting learning
- introduced the idea that relative motion is the only motion, without causing indigestion
- differentiate the ways in which
time
is used - telling stories about journeys, relating what's observed to the record that is made
- taking care about the use of arrows – for representing force, direction, and velocity or speed
- sequencing the ideas carefully, drawing together the threads about force with the thread about changes in movement
Teacher Tip: These are all related to findings about children's ideas from research. The teaching activities will provide some suggestions. So will colleagues, near and far.
Avoid these
- defining speed without relating it to increasing separation
- getting bogged down in units – e.g. mph, kilometres per hour, furlongs per fortnight
Teacher Tip: These difficulties are distilled from: the research findings; the practice of well-connected teachers with expertise; issues intrinsic to representing the physics well.