Graphing With Motion Sensors

Graphing with Motion Sensors Karen MacAulay Elizabeth Kaplan Watertown Middle School Watertown, Massachusetts

 Suburban community outside of Boston &

Cambridge, MA  Diverse population  576 students – 309 boys; 267 girls  27% from homes where English is not first language  25-30% Special Education learners

Middle School Science  Grade 7  Adaptable for grades 6-8  Fits with Motion, Forces & Energy unit  Aligned with Prentice Hall: Science

Explorer modules

Distance vs Time Graphs Create Interpret Experience

Technology at Watertown Middle School Educational Technology Program: Ensures that students are prepared to live and work in the 21st Century. Students will effectively use information, communication, and problem solving technologies to be life-long learners. This is accomplished by providing leadership, instruction, and equitable access to resources for all students and staff.

Technology at Watertown Middle School Hardware    

2 full lap top carts (25 each) 3 half lap top carts (12 each) 1 lap top for each teacher 15 library desktop computers

National Science Standards  Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry  Understandings about scientific inquiry  Motions and forces  Understandings about science and

technology

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy



Use the units of the inputs to a calculation to determine what units (such as seconds, square inches, or dollars per tankful) should be used in expressing an answer.



Convert quantities expressed in one unit of measurement into another unit of measurement when necessary to solve a real-world problem.



Make accurate measurements of length, volume, weight, elapsed time, rates, and temperature by using appropriate devices.

Project 2061 Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy Select the proper tool for completing a particular task. Organize information in simple tables and graphs and identify relationships they reveal. Read simple tables and graphs produced by others and describe in words what they show.

Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Curriculum Framework October 2006

Content Standards  Explain

and give examples of how the motion of an object can be described by its position, direction of motion, and speed.

 Graph

and interpret distance vs. time graphs for constant speed.

PRE-ASSESSMENT Brainstorm all the words and terms you associate with this question:

What is motion?

The graph below shows a beetle’s movement along a plant stem.



During which span of time was the beetle not moving?

Who do you think is correct? Which answer do you agree with? Why?

A

Aisha says it’s not moving from 0 to 4 minutes

B

Byron disagrees. “It’s definitely from 4 to 6 minutes”, he confidently claims.

C

Cindy shakes her head. “Listen…it’s not moving from 6 to 14 minutes, you guys.”

D

Dien whispers, “It is not moving from 14 to 16 minutes.”

What is Speed? Inquiry Activity Task:

Determine the speed of the car using only the materials provided.

Scientific Method 

Question/Problem: How is speed measured?



Hypothesis:



Materials (per group):     

1 toy car 1 piece of wood various books and/or binders stop watch ruler

Scientific Method Procedure:

Test your results more than once!

Results:

Show all data in your table.

Conclusion:

How is speed measured? Was your hypothesis correct?

s = d/t speed = distance / time

Apply & Practice…

D T

S

Collecting Speed Data

Stopwatches, Tape, Clipboards

Management: Practice Problems

Science Skills add in some Metric Review Practice…

Graph the data

What do the lines tell us?

Use your data to make an Excel graph distance in meters (m)

distance 25 20 15 10 5 0 0

2

4

6

time in seconds (s)

8

GO! MOTION SENSORS

TASK: Create a graph with:  A rise  A fall  A straight line

Sample Result

Why we do this? 

Uses 21st Century skills: Using digital technologies to collect and evaluate data Increase student engagement through technology



Uses students’ bodies to create the motion that is graphed on the computer



Students connect their actions to the screen display



Many different “correct” versions

GO! Motion Sensors  Connect to laptop or desktop  Use Go! Motion Logger Lite

sensors

software and

 Available from Vernier  May be able to borrow them from local

university…

Materials  6-8 Stopwatches  Class set of Clipboards  Masking tape  6-8 Meter sticks  6-8 Toy cars  6-8 pieces of wood for ramps  Computers with Excel  Graph paper

Resources  Science

Formative Assessment

75 Practical Strategies for Linking Assessment, Instruction, and Learning Keeley, Page. Corwin Press. Thousand Oaks, CA, 2008.

 Forces,

Motion & Energy. Holt, Rinehart

 Motion,

Forces, and Energy. Pearson

and Winston. New York, 2005. Education, Inc. Boston, 2009