Hyacinth Vernice Giban

Learning goals: Students will be able to accurately interpret and draw position, velocity and
acceleration graphs for common situations and explain their reasoning.

1. Investigate Moving Man by having the man move using the sliders. Use the playback features to
look at the graphs. While you make observations talk about the reasons the graphs look the way
they do.

2. Make a chart like the one below on your own paper. Without using Moving Man, sketch what you
think the graphs would look like for the following scenario and explain your reasoning.

Scenario: The man starts at the tree and moves

toward the house with constant velocity

Position - time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph’s

appearance

At a constant velocity the position of the man

will start at negative and consistently become
more positive

Velocity - time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph’s

appearance

The velocity of the man stayed constant and he

was moving in a positive direction

Acceleration - time graph Explain your reasoning for the graph’s

appearance

He does not accelerate because his velocity

remains constant
3. Now, use the Moving man simulation to verify or correct your predicted graphs and reasoning
with a different color pen.

4. Make new charts for each of the following scenarios. Predict what you think the graphs will look
like, and then use Moving man to verify or correct your predicted graphs and reasoning with a
different color pen.
a. The man starts three meters from the house and accelerates towards the tree.

Position - time graph Because he is accelerating the position

change is slow at first but as he accelerates
the position change is faster and the line
curves because of the changing slope of the
line.

Velocity - time graph Though his speed is increasing, the

direction is negative which makes his
velocity negative causing the downward
slope of the line.

Acceleration - time graph Because his velocity is negative his

acceleration is also negative and he
accelerates at a constant rate which makes
the line even
b. The man stands still while he talks on his cell phone at the middle of the sidewalk, then walks
toward the house at a constant rate trying to get better cell reception. He comes to a sudden stop
when the coverage is good (about a meter before the house) and stands still to finish his
conversation.

Position - time graph At a stop his position stays the same then
his position increases constantly then his
position stays the same when he stops again

Velocity - time graph His velocity is zero while he is standing then

his velocity is a constant positive value
while he moves then goes back to zero

Acceleration - time graph The man is not accelerating while standing

still but accelerates for a moment while
before he starts moving forward then goes
back to zero acceleration then when he
stops he negatively accelerates and goes
back to zero.
c. The man starts close to the house, stands still for a little while, then walks toward the tree at a
constant rate for a while, then slows to a stop.

Position - time graph At a stop his position is the value of where

he is standing then his position becomes
more negative as he moves toward the tree
and as he slows his position curves then his
position remains constant at the stop.

Velocity - time graph The velocity is zero as he is standing still

then is constantly negative as he moves
toward the tree then curves as he slows
down and comes to a stop

Acceleration - time graph The acceleration is negative after the man

begins walking with a negative velocity. It
increases to a constant value as he slows
down then goes back down to zero when he
stops.
5. Look at your graphs, reasonings and the corrections from questions 2 and 3. Talk about why
some of your predictions were wrong and how your ideas about motion have changed.

Some of our predictions were wrong because we got confused about which values would be
negative and positive because of the position values of the simulation. Our ideas about motion have
changed because we have started to understand the different looks of each of the position, velocity,
and acceleration graphs and their relationships.

6. Sketch the position, velocity and acceleration graphs for the following scenario:
A man wakes up from his nap under the tree and speeds up toward the house. He stops because he
is worried that he dropped his keys. He stands still as he searches his pockets for his keys. Once he
finds them, he continues calmly to walk toward the house and then slows to a stop as he nears the
door.

Position Velocity

Acceleration
7. With your lab partners, write a motion scenario that you could test. Test it, and then write a
description of how you used the program to generate the graphs. Sketch the graphs.

A tourist is confused about directions to the hotel but is too shy to ask for help. He walks toward the
tree at a steady rate then turns around and accelerates all the way to the hotel and stops. How to
use the program: Have the man at position 0 and set velocity to -2m/s. Let him get to the tree then
set the velocity to 2m/s and the acceleration to 1m/s/s. Have him reach the hotel then set the
velocity and acceleration to 0 and have him stop at the hotel.

Position Velocity

Acceleration

8. Individually write a possible scenario for the following graph. Then compare your scenario with
your lab partners to check if it's reasonable.

The man starts at the wall and moves toward the house while slightly accelerating then slows down
and stops for a few seconds, turns around, accelerates back toward the wall and begins to slow
down again.