Physics Day 1 (Pretest, Position. Distance)

1. Pretest on Newton's First Law (test, grade in class)
2. Exploring Position
3. Distance vs. Displacement

Student Exploration: Exploring Position
Describe the location of an object that is easy to see without pointing, describing or naming the object. Give directions on how to find it. See if partner can identify object. Repeat.

THEN: (Could also go outside and do the same)
Describe how to get from your seat to the Smart board, back to get a drink, and back to your seat.
Switch papers and work it out with another student.
Explain what problems/challenges you ran into. What worked and didn't? How could you fix this? Reflect on the process in your Science Notebooks. With class, discuss relative versus definite positions.Use maps as examples with longitude/latitude. Cartesian plane. Compass rose and cardinal directions.

Student Exploration: Distance vs. Displacement
Materials: Chalk, meter stick or string, compass, graph paper, notebook and pencil.
We will go outside. One student from each group will chose a place on the basketball court, write their NAME and a dot as a starting place (in groups of 4). Students are given directions as to how to find a "treasure" and will measure them out accordingly. Using a compass and a meter stick, they will traverse the yard! They will also chart their journey on graph paper as they go. At the end, they will calculate their total distance, and their total distance from their origin (displacement), which will be startlingly close to their start! Heh heh heh.

Back in class, we will discuss difference between total distance traveled and displacement from origin. Use water displacement & Eureka moment as further examples.

THEN: Students will do a worksheet on their own.
Materials: graph paper and stories. Students will follow the stories and draw the character’s journey /path to find treasure etc. using each square as 1 kilometer/ 1 meter depending on the story.

BEFORE THEY LEAVE:
Students will receive one sticky note. Students will write the difference between displacement and distance, and provide an example.