A video of a student accelerating across a stage on a cart powered by releasing compressed carbon dioxide from a fire extinguisher can be used to analyze constant acceleration. This video includes a to-scale ruler that students can use to find displacement, as well as a frame counter that can be used to find elapsed time. This lesson is meant to be a direct application of using the kinematic equations to solve for the acceleration of the cart.

In this lesson, students interactively create predictions of position, velocity and acceleration graphs on the web using java applets. The applets automatically classify student answers, so instructors can create graphs of student predictions. Students also write text explaining why they think the graphs will have the shape they do.

In this activity, students predict and understand the relationship between position, velocity and acceleration graphs and describe the motion of any object given one motion graph.

This activity can be students' first exposure to using Direct Measurement Videos in physics. Students will use a video to make measurements that will allow them to calculate the speed of a roller coaster. This activity will also help students understand the concept of average velocity.

In this lab activity, students investigate the concept of frame of reference by observing, describing and drawing the same walking motion from different positions. Additionally, they determine the effect of frame of reference on the walking time. Students analyze their data and observations and develop a working definition of the concept of frame of reference. A description of the lab report format is provided.

In this physics interactive lecture demonstration, students will observe the constancy of gravity in a variety of different situations. They will predict what will happen if a plastic bottle, filled with water and having a hole near the bottom, is dropped. Will the bottle fall at the same rate as the water inside the bottle?

This activity is based on the "Keep in Time" video and allows students to measure the speed of sound in air in a way that is intuitive and visual. A quick and easy way for students to measure the velocity of sound is to look only at the first and last claps, but the video can also be a great way to practice graphing skills and graph analysis skills.

Students will measure linear distance and time and calculate velocity. Students will create graphs to show speed vs. distance and velocity vs. distance.

In this lab activity, students investigate the motion of different skateboarders pulled with various values of constant force. Using skateboarders of different masses and a variety of constant force values, students produce distance-time graphs for a number of trials. Students will then analyze the data using Newton's second law and discuss differences between trials, the effects of friction, and possible sources of error in the experiment.

In this activity, students work collaboratively to create orienteering directions in distance and direction to a minimum of 6 checkpoints around the school property. They exchange directions with another group and try to correctly follow the path. They finish the activity by drawing a scale map of the vectors, and finding the straight-line distance and direction from start to finish as an introduction to the idea of a resultant.

In this activity, students use Direct Measurement Videos to learn science concepts. Students are assigned a specific video and are asked to develop a question that can be answered using the information they can glean from the video. Students try to develop a particularly difficult and interesting question that they can solve, and challenge other students to be able to solve it as well.

In this activity, students are challenged to find the speed of a battery-powered car. Students will devise their own procedure to measure distance and time and calculate speed over several trials. Students will generate a complete lab write-up to summarize the lab.

This is a short activity intended to allow students to practice kinematics using a video of a familiar object: a spring-powered toy car. Students measure displacement and elapsed time from the video and use these measurements to calculate average speed. Observing that the car has an initial speed of zero, students can find the final speed and acceleration. Students will use a QuickTime video recorded at 240 frames per second, making measurements directly from the video using a ruler and a frame-counter overlaid on the video.

This activity is intended to help students understand and apply concepts in physics mechanics to a real-world situation. Students will use a high speed video of a hockey slap shot, making measurements directly from the video. Students can use the video to determine the average force the hockey stick exerts on the puck while the stick and puck are in contact. This is an example of an open-ended problem in that students are given little numerical information and several different strategies and concepts can be used. Students should be familiar with the concept of velocity, acceleration, Newton's laws of motion, and the concepts of momentum and impulse. Unlike a traditional word-problem where students are given the numerical information they need to solve the problem, students must make measurements from the video to determine their answer. Ideally, students are not given hints or even told which concepts to use, as these steps are essential parts of their analysis. Students will use a high speed video recorded at 240 frames per second, making measurements directly from the video using a frame-counter, a ruler and numerical data overlaid on the video.

In this activity, students will learn how to add force vectors. They will see the significance of direction when adding vector quantities.

In this activity, students will investigate velocity and acceleration vectors. They will understand that vectors have both magnitude and direction components. Students will interpret the motion of a car using its related velocity and acceleration vectors and model the motion vectors using toothpicks.

In this activity, students calculate the displacement from one corner of the school to the other, using a meter stick and recording the distances and directions needed to get there. Once all of the distances and directions are recorded, the students draw a to-scale map using vectors. Once the entire map is completed they are then instructed to calculate the displacement and direction of corner to corner of the school.

In this activity, students work in groups to find a "treasure" using directions from a treasure map that has been torn into sections. The directions are written as vectors.

In this unit, students will learn how to analyze the motion of objects. Lessons in this unit include: Vectors and Direction; Vector Addition; Resultants; Vector Components; Vector Resolution; Component Method of Vector Addition; Relative Velocity and Riverboat Problems; and Independence of Perpendicular Components of Motion. The unit includes videos, animations and mini quizzes to check for understanding and facilitate learning.

This activity guides students through the process of analyzing the motion of a water coaster at an amusement park as it comes down and hill and then rapidly decelerates when it hits a water pool. In addition to one dimensional kinematics, the worksheet prompts students to consider forces, Newton's Laws, and even the existence and causes of non-constant acceleration.