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Formative assessment questions for teaching physics

A2L Item 058

  • Description: Identify bodies not accelerating
  • Goal: Perceiving acceleration from description of motion.
  • Source: UMPERG Core A.4
  • Keywords: Acceleration, Mechanics

The question for students:

How many of the objects below are NOT accelerating? (A) A race car going around a circular track at 150 MPH (B) A sky diver falling at a constant speed (C) A heavy box sliding across the floor, after being released (D) A bowling ball colliding with a pin (E) A vibrating guitar string (F) A baseball flying through the air (G) A child swinging on a swing

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Commentary for teachers:

Answer

(1) Only the skydiver, who has reached terminal velocity, has zero acceleration. In each of the other situations either the speed or direction of motion is changing.

Background

Students may use a variety of factors in deciding whether an object accelerates.

The goal is to focus students more narrowly on changes in the speed and/or direction of an object’s motion.

Questions to Reveal Student Reasoning

How do you know whether an object is accelerating? What are some examples of objects undergoing an acceleration?

Suggestions

Play a “challenge game” with the class where two teams of students take turns challenging each other with situations in which an object undergoes some motion, and the other team needs to determine whether or not the object is accelerating.

Have students write out how they determine whether an object is accelerating. After listening to the different method students use, have students vote on which method they think is best.

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