Kinematics in High School Physics: Reasons to Teach Equations

[brainpushups]

I would say an easy conceptual would be whether or not an object moving in a circle has a linear acceleration or not. Then, a mid level question would ask in what direction is that acceleration. I would do these questions early on in the year. Off the top of my head, i can't think of a high level question to do early on in the year. Maybe one that involves changes in acceleration, and a physical description of that kind of motion.

Fair enough. My question was a little vaguely worded. Since we were talking kinematics I was looking more for what you would consider to be a conceptual question about uniformly accelerated motion.

Virginia state standards are very vague in what is asked of the students. I interpret it as being more of a survey course. Most teachers in my county just ignore the latter few standards and make it a mechanics heavy course.

I expect most states are like that. Vermont's standards were equally vague. I haven't paid much attention to standards over the past several years, but I know that the Next Generation Science Standards are less focused on content mastery and more focused on scientific practice. Historically, I believe that up until the 1970s or 1980s physics education at the high school level rarely included anything besides mechanics.

 

[Andy Resnick]

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For quantitative questions, i would lean towards more graphing, or designing a method for measuring acceleration.
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One of my Physics I test questions is for students to draw the (instantaneous) acceleration and velocity vectors for a car driving around an ellipse at constant speed- I provide an ellipse and indicate the points where they should draw the vectors. The results are, shall we say, discouraging.

 

[Hlud]

Fair enough. My question was a little vaguely worded. Since we were talking kinematics I was looking more for what you would consider to be a conceptual question about uniformly accelerated motion.

I think that is one of the issues. Some of my colleagues 'forget' that circular motion kinematics is still kinematics.

I expect most states are like that. Vermont's standards were equally vague. I haven't paid much attention to standards over the past several years, but I know that the Next Generation Science Standards are less focused on content mastery and more focused on scientific practice. Historically, I believe that up until the 1970s or 1980s physics education at the high school level rarely included anything besides mechanics.

I'll have to look more into that. I like the sound of that ^.^

One of my Physics I test questions is for students to draw the (instantaneous) acceleration and velocity vectors for a car driving around an ellipse at constant speed- I provide an ellipse and indicate the points where they should draw the vectors. The results are, shall we say, discouraging.

I'm going to have to steal this question!

 

[Andy Resnick]

I'm going to have to steal this question!

Feel free to- I stole it from Arons :)

 

[math737]

I symphatize with your students. I hated learning the kinematics, even as a math lover. I think its not the concept or plug and jug but instead the way kinematics is taught in school. I say teach it, because the capabilities that it has given humanity is vast. So teach it in a conceptual way rather than a bury your face in the numbers way. Think about it, we can make accurate predictions of location, time, velocity and acceleration, give them examples of industries this has made a difference in. Teach them that physics is meant to be a practical tool in your tool kit rather than just homework you get stuck on. Teach them that real world problems can very much be designed the same way. Like try to have a contest among your students to come up with thorough explanation for how to get a ball through a hoop from a x distance you dictate. Rather than shuffing it down their throats let them mingle, examine, reason, analyze, and come to their own conclusions about the application and limits of kinematics. good luck.