Lesson Plan: Kinematic Graphs Physics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to interpret graphs of distance, displacement, speed, velocity, acceleration, and time to analyze the motion of objects.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall which kinematic quantities correspond to the gradients of and areas under the lines of graphs of various kinematic quantities versus time,
- deduce whether a set of kinematic graphs correspond to the same motion,
- deduce from multiple kinematic graphs of the same motion of an object some properties of the motion of the object (e.g., at rest, constant speed, constant velocity, and constant acceleration),
- deduce from multiple kinematic graphs of the same motion of two objects some properties of the positions of the objects (e.g., constant separation, same start, and/or end position).
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- the meanings of distance, displacement, speed, velocity, and acceleration,
- calculating straight line gradients,
- calculating areas of regular shapes.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- finding areas of irregular shapes,
- finding gradients of curves.
