What are some good ways to teach velocity to middle school students?

Question

I work in a Title 1 school and I need lessons that are on a fairly basic level...but worth the student's time. Web sites would be helpful. This is the first of the 8th grade science standards in California.

Answer 1

Have them throw balls. Throw them hard and they are moving at a greater velocity. Have them throw them softly and they move at a lower velocity.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

A good way to each science is to start out with definitions. As some previous posters answered,
Velocity is defined as a vector. Now middle school students might not have had the proper math background to understand how to deal with vector math.

1) What is a vector? A vector is a magnitude and direction. What is a magnitude? A magnitude is value of your measurement. For example, the magnitude of the diameter of your monitor might be 19". The direction completes a vector. Without a direction the value is just a scalar. Direction can be north, east, south, west or 30 degrees from the x axis etc.

2) Once a vector is understood, then you need to define what velocity is and differentiate it from what speed is. Speed is the magnitude of the rate an object travels. It is measured by the Distance over Time, mathematically. Velocity is Speed + direction. Usually in science classes, Speed is given in meters per second or miles per hour etc. Adding the direction, lets say north, you obtain a velocity.

3) Examples. Once you understand the definition of Velocity. Velocity = Distance/Time (w/direction) you can do examples. Demonstrations you can do is having objects move on a graph and students can try to see where the object is going in terms of direction and magnitude. Maps are useful as well.

4) Applications: You want to give concrete examples with things students can relate to in everyday life. Where is your velocity measured? In a race? On the road in a car? Airplanes? Space shuttles? Bullets? Some examples were listed by others in previous posts. What is the next thing to know? Are you teaching instaneous velocity? Average velocity? Are you going to deal with the change of velocity such as Acceleration and decelleration?

If you google for teaching demos in physics, velocity, you will find them on the web.
Good Luck.

Answer 4

Since is in California, to get the gang members interested in the subject, I would recommend muzzle velocity of a gun. Weight the bullet. Fire the gun while measuring the velocity of the bullet exciting the gun. Calculate the force it take to move the bullet at that speed. Extra credit to find out will it penetrate a human skull in 500ft, 1000ft, 5000ft.

Answer 5

Emphasize that velocity is speed direction. You need two things. 30 mph north is not the same as 30 mph west.

Also, speed is a , that is, distance divided by time (or distance per unit time).

Three things, then, will give you velocity: distance, time, and direction. Whenever you change one of those three, the velocity changes.

Answer 6

Velocity is speed + direction, a vector quantity.

Take them on a bus-police chase thru town at 100+ per. At each turn state your speed and new direction. By the time you get back, they should have a good handle on the concept.

Oh, I meant on the computer, of course. :-|

Answer 7

I remember when they taught it to me they did a good job.

What they did was the teacher simply asked, "Define Motion".
There were alot of strange answers, but of course the correct answer is, "The movement of one body in relation to another".

After that, it is easy to understand velocity. Just make sure you do not confuse the students with the differences between velocity and acceleration.

Answer 8

When dealing with velocity, remove the outside influences like gravity and friction to eliminate confusion. Best way to do this is use examples in space... like tie fighter and x-wings! If tie fighter A is travelling north at 4.5 m/s and x-wing B is travelling south at 6.0 m/s, at which point in space will they collide?

Answer 9

you need a long inclined plane and two balls of different mass - probably the bigger the difference the better. hold them at the top of the plane and release them at the same time. one will accelerate at a greater rate than the other (the heavier ball) because V=M*A (or velocity equals mass * acceleration). That would effectively demonstrate the principle of physics.

Answer 10

Basically cars (& maybe balls) were the example that got stuck in my head till now about velocity...