PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework

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published by the PhET
written by Katherine Perkins and Carl E. Wieman

This is a set of homework questions developed for use with the PhET simulation "The Moving Man". It assesses student understanding of position, velocity, and acceleration graphs. It was designed for implementation in cooperative learning groups. Most of the questions are in multiple-choice format, with a few requiring short written responses. This resource has been used in large-enrollment classes, but is also appropriate for algebra-based high school physics courses.

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/activities/3081

Subjects	Levels	Resource Types
Classical Mechanics - Motion in One Dimension = Acceleration = Position & Displacement = Velocity	- High School - Lower Undergraduate	- Instructional Material = Activity = Problem/Problem Set - Assessment Material

Intended Users	Formats	Ratings
- Educators - Learners	- text/html - application/ms-word - application/java	Currently 0.0/5 Want to rate this material? Login here!

Access Rights:: Free access
Restriction:: © 2008 Physics Education Technology, University of Colorado
Additional information is available.
SERC:: Link to Material
Keywords:: acceleration, assessment, graph, graph interpretation, homework, kinematics, position, problem set, question, velocity
Record Cloner:: Metadata instance created November 16, 2008 by Caroline Hall
Record Updated:: February 22, 2025 by Lyle Barbato
Last Update when Cataloged:: January 14, 2008
Other Collections:: The Physics Front

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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.
9-12: 4F/H1. The change in motion (direction or speed) of an object is proportional to the applied force and inversely proportional to the mass.
9-12: 4F/H8. Any object maintains a constant speed and direction of motion unless an unbalanced outside force acts on it.

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/H1b. Sometimes the rate of change of something depends on how much there is of something else (as the rate of change of speed is proportional to the amount of force acting).

11. Common Themes

11B. Models

6-8: 11B/M4. Simulations are often useful in modeling events and processes.
6-8: 11B/M6. A model can sometimes be used to get ideas about how the thing being modeled actually works, but there is no guarantee that these ideas are correct if they are based on the model alone.
9-12: 11B/H3. The usefulness of a model can be tested by comparing its predictions to actual observations in the real world. But a close match does not necessarily mean that other models would not work equally well or better.

Common Core State Standards for Mathematics Alignments

Expressions and Equations (6-8)

Represent and analyze quantitative relationships between dependent and independent variables. (6)

6.EE.9 Use variables to represent two quantities in a real-world problem that change in relationship to one another; write an equation to express one quantity, thought of as the dependent variable, in terms of the other quantity, thought of as the independent variable. Analyze the relationship between the dependent and independent variables using graphs and tables, and relate these to the equation.

Functions (8)

Define, evaluate, and compare functions. (8)

8.F.1 Understand that a function is a rule that assigns to each input exactly one output. The graph of a function is the set of ordered pairs consisting of an input and the corresponding output.

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)

Linear, Quadratic, and Exponential Models^? (9-12)

F-LE.1.b Recognize situations in which one quantity changes at a constant rate per unit interval relative to another.
F-LE.5 Interpret the parameters in a linear or exponential function in terms of a context.

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Record Link

<a href="https://www.compadre.org/portal/items/detail.cfm?ID=8304">Perkins, Katherine, and Carl Wieman. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework. Boulder: PhET, January 14, 2008.</a>

AIP Format

K. Perkins and C. Wieman, (PhET, Boulder, 2008), WWW Document, (https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081).

AJP/PRST-PER

K. Perkins and C. Wieman, PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework (PhET, Boulder, 2008), <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081>.

APA Format

Perkins, K., & Wieman, C. (2008, January 14). PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework. Retrieved March 15, 2025, from PhET: https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081

Chicago Format

Perkins, Katherine, and Carl Wieman. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework. Boulder: PhET, January 14, 2008. https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081 (accessed 15 March 2025).

MLA Format

Perkins, Katherine, and Carl Wieman. PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework. Boulder: PhET, 2008. 14 Jan. 2008. 15 Mar. 2025 <https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081>.

BibTeX Export Format

@misc{ Author = "Katherine Perkins and Carl Wieman", Title = {PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework}, Publisher = {PhET}, Volume = {2025}, Number = {15 March 2025}, Month = {January 14, 2008}, Year = {2008} }

Refer Export Format

%A Katherine Perkins %A Carl Wieman %T PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework %D January 14, 2008 %I PhET %C Boulder %U https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081 %O text/html

EndNote Export Format

%0 Electronic Source %A Perkins, Katherine %A Wieman, Carl %D January 14, 2008 %T PhET Teacher Ideas & Activities: Motion and Moving Man Simulation Homework %I PhET %V 2025 %N 15 March 2025 %8 January 14, 2008 %9 text/html %U https://phet.colorado.edu/en/activities/3081

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Citation Source Information

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

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