April 28

Distance-Time Graphs Activity 📈🏃‍♂️

📅 Completed: April 28

Due April 30

Today, students worked with distance-time graphs to explore how motion can be represented visually. Using a simulation and problem-solving activities, students learned how to interpret, create, and analyze graphs that show how an object's position changes over time.

🧠 What We Did:

🔹 Warm-Up and Exploration

Students began by predicting and comparing the speed and distance of two runners.

Using the Distance-Time Graphs Gizmo, students observed how a runner’s movement is connected to points on a graph.

Students practiced dragging points on the graph to change the runner’s movement and recorded what they observed.

🔹 Activity A: Runner Position

Students explored how to read a graph to find:

✅ Where the runner was at a given time

✅ What it means when the graph shows different slopes

✅ How the y-intercept shows starting position

🔹 Activity B: Runner Direction and Speed

Students created graphs showing runners moving forward, backward, and at rest.

They analyzed how steeper lines represent faster speeds, and flat lines represent no motion.

Students calculated speed from distance and time based on the graph’s slope.

🔹 Activity C: Two Runners on a Graph

Students compared two runners on the same graph:

✅ Which runner was faster

✅ Who won the race

✅ How to tell when runners pass each other (where their lines cross)

Students also completed word problems involving chases, races, and collisions, using the graphs to find and explain their solutions.

📊 Skills Practiced:

Interpreting and creating distance-time graphs

Calculating speed from a graph

Recognizing changes in motion (starting, stopping, reversing direction)

Solving real-world word problems related to motion

🌍 Why This Matters:

Understanding distance-time graphs helps students visualize motion and prepares them for future lessons on velocity, acceleration, and interpreting scientific data. Graphs are important tools scientists use to analyze motion and predict outcomes in real life!

✅ Great work connecting motion to graphs! Keep practicing reading and making graphs to build strong science and math skills. 📈⚡✨