PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man

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published by the PhET
written by Trish Loeblein

This is an inquiry-based module developed for use with the PhET simulation "The Moving Man". A PhET Gold Star winning resource, the module was created by a high school teacher to help students build skills in interpreting graphs of motion. It consists of multiple concept questions in downloadable Power Point format, pre-lab and post-lab student assessments, printable student guidelines, and a lesson plan for teachers.

Se Related Materials for a link to "The Moving Man" simulation that accompanies this lesson plan.

Please note that this resource requires at least version 1.4, Java WebStart of Java.

Additional context for this material is provided by the ComPADRE-SERC Pedagogic Service.

https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - Motion in One Dimension = Acceleration = Position & Displacement = Velocity	- High School	- Instructional Material = Activity = Lecture/Presentation = Lesson/Lesson Plan = Student Guide - Assessment Material

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Educators	- text/html - application/java - application/ms-powerpoint	Currently 4.0/5 Rated 4.0 stars by 1 person Want to rate this material? Login here!

Access Rights:: Free access
Restriction:: © 2005 Physics Education Technology, University of Colorado
Additional information is available.
SERC:: Link to Material
Keywords:: acceleration, equation, graph, graph interpretation, inquiry, kinematics, lesson plan, module, position, velocity
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created November 15, 2008 by Caroline Hall
Record Updated:: August 18, 2016 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: November 1, 2008
Other Collections:: The Physics Front

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Next Generation Science Standards

Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions (HS-PS2)

Students who demonstrate understanding can: (9-12)

Analyze data to support the claim that Newton's second law of motion describes the mathematical relationship among the net force on a macroscopic object, its mass, and its acceleration. (HS-PS2-1)

Disciplinary Core Ideas (K-12)

Forces and Motion (PS2.A)

The motion of an object is determined by the sum of the forces acting on it; if the total force on the object is not zero, its motion will change. The greater the mass of the object, the greater the force needed to achieve the same change in motion. For any given object, a larger force causes a larger change in motion. (6-8)
All positions of objects and the directions of forces and motions must be described in an arbitrarily chosen reference frame and arbitrarily chosen units of size. In order to share information with other people, these choices must also be shared. (6-8)

AAAS Benchmark Alignments (2008 Version)

4. The Physical Setting

4F. Motion

6-8: 4F/M3a. An unbalanced force acting on an object changes its speed or direction of motion, or both.

9. The Mathematical World

9B. Symbolic Relationships

6-8: 9B/M3. Graphs can show a variety of possible relationships between two variables. As one variable increases uniformly, the other may do one of the following: increase or decrease steadily, increase or decrease faster and faster, get closer and closer to some limiting value, reach some intermediate maximum or minimum, alternately increase and decrease, increase or decrease in steps, or do something different from any of these.
9-12: 9B/H4. Tables, graphs, and symbols are alternative ways of representing data and relationships that can be translated from one to another.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Alignments

Functions (8)

Use functions to model relationships between quantities. (8)

8.F.5 Describe qualitatively the functional relationship between two quantities by analyzing a graph (e.g., where the function is increasing or decreasing, linear or nonlinear). Sketch a graph that exhibits the qualitative features of a function that has been described verbally.

High School — Functions (9-12)

Interpreting Functions (9-12)

F-IF.4 For a function that models a relationship between two quantities, interpret key features of graphs and tables in terms of the quantities, and sketch graphs showing key features given a verbal description of the relationship.^?
F-IF.5 Relate the domain of a function to its graph and, where applicable, to the quantitative relationship it describes.^?

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=8300">Loeblein, Trish. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man. Boulder: PhET, November 1, 2008.</a>

AIP Format

T. Loeblein, (PhET, Boulder, 2005), WWW Document, (https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818).

AJP/PRST-PER

T. Loeblein, PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man (PhET, Boulder, 2005), <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818>.

APA Format

Loeblein, T. (2008, November 1). PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man. Retrieved February 7, 2025, from PhET: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818

Chicago Format

Loeblein, Trish. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man. Boulder: PhET, November 1, 2008. https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818 (accessed 7 February 2025).

MLA Format

Loeblein, Trish. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man. Boulder: PhET, 2005. 1 Nov. 2008. 7 Feb. 2025 <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818>.

BibTeX Export Format

@misc{ Author = "Trish Loeblein", Title = {PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man}, Publisher = {PhET}, Volume = {2025}, Number = {7 February 2025}, Month = {November 1, 2008}, Year = {2005} }

Refer Export Format

%A Trish Loeblein %T PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man %D November 1, 2008 %I PhET %C Boulder %U https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818 %O text/html

EndNote Export Format

%0 Electronic Source %A Loeblein, Trish %D November 1, 2008 %T PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Moving Man %I PhET %V 2025 %N 7 February 2025 %8 November 1, 2008 %9 text/html %U https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/2818

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The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.

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