1. …OR A QUICK FOUR-DAY JOURNEY ON PLOTTING MOVEMENT… Motion, Vectors, and Gliders

2. Class composition: 26 students, all girls, 9 th grade 45 minute class periods Last 4 days of class before review for semester exams, spring semester. Totally new topic (we had had a semester of chemistry…)

3. Day 1: Post-it mania In the hallway outside my room, each group was given the task to plot the motion of some object that moved in uniform, constant motion: a tricycle, bowling ball, supply cart, toy Tonka truck, and a dynamics cart were used. Each group had a student as a: -- timer-- motion controller -- post-it marker -- observer

4. Tasks?? Determine your origin (tile floor helped!) Start motion Timer called out 2-second intervals Post-it markers noted on floor the location of the object at the intervals Each group was given a white dry-erase board, and plotted distance vs. time Repeat, if possible, at a faster or slower speed

5. Plotting motion on the white board

6. Day 2: Review & further learning Review: with handout, students learned the definition of velocity: Velocity = distance / time, and were told to calculate their velocities from day 1. Slope: students learned how they could obtain the velocity from their white-board and paper plots using the slope, or rise (distance) over run (time).

7. Day 2: New concept! Two dimensional motion: Classroom Intro: discussion about motion in two dimensions… How would they tell a friend how to get to Tropical Moose in Kirkwood from a game at Kirkwood H.S.? ‘Displacement’: a motion from place-to-place, or start-to-finish, often involves motion on a horizontal plane, in more than one direction

8. Hallway task: Set up a N-E coordinate system with tape on tiles Plot motion of your object (timer, post-its, etc) Transfer plot to graph on handout Draw an arrow from start to finish Introduce the ‘displacement vector’, (which essentially, is the arrow from start to finish)

9. Day 3: Outside!! Introduce the concept of ‘blind’ gliders from Coleman-Lodes lesson plan Show the students the ‘playing field’, in front of the school, containing N & E axes, and target about 200 feet northeast of origin Break into groups, blindfold one in group, give them markers, start at slightly different locations (no interference or mid-course collisions!), and let ‘em go!

10. Simple rules Blindfolded glider walks twenty paces, stops, is marked, and ‘peeks’ for a course correction. ‘Aide’ does the marking, and keeps her from crashing into trees, other gliders, etc., if necessary. Does not assist in direction choice! Travel until you reach the goal. Plot path on handout.

11. The blindfolded glider day

12. Day 4: Summarize, review, and check out oceanic migration! Finish plots, and answer questions about previous day. Plot displacement vector of blindfolded glider motion (i.e., draw arrow). Check out Rutgers gliders website, plot displacement vector of one of the glider paths on image on handout. Check out the TOPPs website, choose a pelagic predator, plot its displacement vector on handout.

13. The Rutgers’ glider data: http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/glider/webpage/glidersiteNJ_Endurance.htm http://marine.rutgers.edu/cool/glider/web page/glidersiteNJ_Endurance.htm

14. Pacific Pelagic motion tracks: TOPPS – http://las.pfeg.noaa.gov/TOPP_recent/index.html