Great model application

Kind of a review of what I tried this morning that seems to have worked.

We started by reviewing the models that we have covered so far in the class. I asked what we have learned about motion so far and what models we have derived. The students began by listing some of the big ideas that came out of the models we have derived and so I steered them away from ideas involved in creating the models to labeling the model. We determined the first to be about constant velocity and so named it that. (I probably should have done that particular step in formalizing the model with a name earlier, but now I know that when we finish with a new model, we need to formalize it with a name.) We then noted the equations the we developed and the graphs we used to develop that math model. Then we did the same with the Constant Acceleration model, listing its equations and graphs as well.

We are moving into projectile motion so I gave a quick demo throwing a ball back and forth with a student. I then asked the class to discuss what restrictions we placed on previous models. I did not ask them to compare the previous models to the demo, but the first statement was about the fact that our previous models have all been 1D motion. There were a few other great observations relating graphs and our observations being "ideal" which I did not address immediately, but will return to when time permits. Then we moved on to Video analysis of projectile motion because the Sonic rangers would not take into account the second dimension.

During the discussion of the results in the lab, the students determined that the horizontal velocity was constant and the vertical acceleration was constant and "g". So I asked them incredulously if we could separate the vertical motion from the horizontal motion and there was a resounding "well I think so?" So I asked them what their graphs told them about the motion in either direction. They went back to their data and were more confident that this separation could happen. So they decided that we could apply both of our models to this new motion.