Position-Time Graphs - Conceptual Analysis -Directions

 

How it Works:

Using the Position-Time Graphs - Conceptual Analysis Concept Builder is quite simple. There are three distinctly separate activities which have you doing different things. In the first activity - Words and Graphs - you will be presented with a graph representing a multi-stage motion. Each stage is represented by a letter. You will be asked which stage represents a specific motion characteristic (like moving fastest or slowest, moving in the positive or negative direction, not moving, etc.). You will inspect the graph and indicate the answers by tapping one or more of the buttons - marked A, B, C, D, and E - at the bottom of the screen. Once tapped, the button will be highlighted in yellow and a Check Answer button will appear. You can tap the letter button a second time to deselect it. Once satisfied with your answer, tap the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated.

In the second activity - Ranking Speeds - you will be presented with three lines on the same position-time graph, each representing the motion of a different object. You will have to rank the speeds of the three objects from the slowest (smallest speed) to the fastest (greatest speed). Tap on one of the three fields at the bottom of the screen to identify the letter of the slowest, middlest, and fastest moving object.  Once you have identified all three parts of the ranking, a Check Answer button will appear. Once satisfied with your answer, tap the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated. 

The third activity - Dots and Graphs - is perhaps the most difficult. You will be presented wtih three different dot diagrams for three different moving objects. There are six lines on a position-time graph. You must match each graph to one of the six lines. You can make the match by tapping on the field in the lower-left section of the graphic where it says A matches graph ... . Tap on the field to toggle through the choices. Repeat for the matches of dot diagrams B and C. Once you have provided a unique graph match for each of the three dot diagrams, a Check Answer button will appear. Once satisfied with your answer, tap the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated.  


In all activities, every answer choice is followed up by feedback and an updating of your Progress Report. Your goal is to earn "Stars" and to complete one or more activities. Stars are earned when you demonstrate success with a particular Question Group. Once you show success on all the graphs at a particular difficulty level, you will earn the reward for that level.

 

 

Earning Stars

There are three activities in this Concept Builder. When you start up any of these activities, the number of questions for that activity are shown in the Progress Report area of the Concept Builder. You will notice that there is either a Yellow or a Red background for each question number. When starting up an activity, the background color is Yellow. Answering a "Yellow" question correctly earns you a star for that question number. However, answering it incorrectly turns the background color to Red. A question number with a Red background must be correctly answered twice (without a miss) in order to earn a star. 

 

Getting Help

You will notice that there is a Help Me button underneath the Progress Report. You should learn to use this feature of the program. It's how you can turn an exercise in answering questions into an exercise in learning. Tapping on the Help Me button will open a page with help that is specific to each question. Of course, the Help pages are only helpful if you read them. So take the time to read them. Each Help page contains four sections: a discussion of the The Basic Idea, a display of the Question that you are trying to answer, a section titled "How to Think About This Situation", and a set of links to resources in our Tutorial section. You should pay attention to the section titled How to Think About This Situation. You will find what you need to know in the two or three paragraphs of this section. You will also become a better Physics student for doing that. That is, after all, the goal of such an activity as Position-Time Graphs - Conceptual Analysis.
 
 

Thanks for being patient with the Directions. Happy learning!