NATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS CURRICULUM SUPPORT
Physics
Skills
Advice and Guidance
for Practitioners
[NATIONAL 5]
This advice and guidance has been produced to support the profession with the delivery of
courses which are either new or which have aspects of significant change within the new
national qualifications (NQ) framework.
The advice and guidance provides suggestions on approaches to learning and teaching.
Practitioners are encouraged to draw on the materials for their own part of their continuing
professional development in introducing new national qualifications in ways that match the
needs of learners.
Practitioners should also refer to the course and unit specifications and support notes which
have been issued by the Scottish Qualifications Authority.
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/34714.html
Acknowledgement
© Crown copyright 2012. You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in
any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence,
visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/ or e-mail:
psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk.
Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain
permission from the copyright holders concerned.
Any enquiries regarding this document/publication should be sent to us at
enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk.
This document is also available from our website at www.educationscotland.gov.uk.
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Contents
Planning for learning and teaching skills in physics
4
Introduction: Setting the scene in a Scottish context
5
Curriculum for Excellence
6
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
8
Developing skills in science: extracts from Principles and Practice
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Exemplification of learning and teaching: using technology in physics
Screen-casting to develop communication skills: a practitioner reflects
Working with senior phase learners to deepen understanding: practitioner
reflection
Motion as a context for developing numeracy
Motion as a context for developing skills in interpreting graphs
Investigating acceleration to develop skills in evaluation
Projectile motion analysis for developing skills in interpreting graphs and
evaluation
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Planning for learning and teaching skills in physics
This advice and guidance is intended for use by practitioners. It is non mandatory. It is anticipated that practitioners will be creative and innovative
in planning approaches to meeting the needs of l earners. This advice and
guidance should be used in a reflective and selective manner.
The purpose of the advice and guidance is to illustrate an appropriate level of
challenge for skills-based work at National 5. In this case, this has
exemplified through physics, but the advice and guidance may be equally
useful for practitioners working in other subject specialisms.
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Introduction: Setting the scene in a Scottish context
The Government’s skills strategy, Skills for Scotland: Accelerating the
Recovery and Increasing Sustainable Economic Growth , sets out a new,
flexible, responsive partnership approach to meeting Scotland ’s skills needs
at a crucial point in our economic recovery.
Skills play a central role in raising employment levels and productivity and
are fundamental to ensuring Scotland's businesses have the capability to
compete successfully both now and in the future. But, as recognised in the
Scottish Government's skills and economic strategies, the acquisition of skills
alone is not sufficient. In Skills Development Scotland we are tasked with
catalysing real and positive change in Scotland's skills performance by
linking skills supply and demand more effectively and helping people and
organisations learn, develop and utilise these skills to greater effect.
Skills Development Scotland, Our Journey
Universities regard the skills strategy as a significant initiative. The
development of the highest level skills most crucial for economic growth is
already one of their prime drivers.
David Caldwell, Universities Scotland
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Curriculum for Excellence
Curriculum for Excellence supports the development of relevant careers skills
in many ways:
 The driving force behind
Curriculum for Excellence is that
it is a curriculum for learning, life
and work, and it should fully
equip learners with the skills,
knowledge and confidence to
thrive and succeed in the
increasingly globalised world of
the 21st century.
 The development of skills within
learners is at the heart of
Curriculum for Excellence in
recognition of the fact that in a
fast-changing world, skills will
allow learners to adapt to changing circumstances and are the key to
success. These include the entire spectrum of skills from leadership to
interpersonal skills to career management skills. Building the Curriculum
4 gives further information about the importance of skills within
Curriculum for Excellence and how they have been embedded within the
experiences and outcomes for all learners, from which the skills wi thin the
learning for National 5 should progress. The Skills for Learning, Skills for
Life and Skills for Work Framework will also aid your planning to meet the
needs of learners.
 Interdisciplinary learning is a key aspect of Curriculum for Excellence and
is an exciting way for schools to develop rich learning experiences that
build upon the strengths and expertise within different disciplines. Topics
such as health and wellbeing can be used as complex themes for
interdisciplinary learning or taught within the physics context to link with
wider learning. These also offer excellent vehicles for learners to develop
higher-order thinking skills and prepare learners for the life of work,
where interdisciplinary approaches to complex tasks are often the norm.
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 Curriculum for Excellence encourages approaches to learning that are
motivational, fun, relevant, challenging and, importantly, develop the
skills of learners. Such approaches to learning include co-operative, active,
collaborative and outdoor learning.
There are many ways in which this learning journey can develop, and you
will know best how to plan learning and teaching that meets the needs of your
learners. By planning opportunities for skills development in context you may
find that the learners’ interests, strengths, prior learning and locality, as well
as local, national and global events, lend themselves t o progressing learning
in different ways from the suggestions within this advice and guidance. Ideas
for learning and teaching can be adapted to allow development and
application of skills for learning, life and work, or to incorporate ICT and
take account of a range of learners’ needs.
Glow provides an opportunity for learners to work together across
geographical areas.
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Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
This Framework provides descriptors for guidance at each level, including
SCQF level 5, the level at which National 5 is benchmarked.
The SCQF Level Descriptors have five characteristics which provide a
reference point for determining the level of a qualification, learni ng
programme, module or unit of learning or for the recognition of prior
learning. They are not intended to give precise or comprehensive statements
of required learning for individual qualifications.
Each level is described in terms of its characteristic ge neral outcomes under
five broad headings. These are:
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knowledge and understanding – mainly subject-based;
practice (applied knowledge and understanding);
generic cognitive skills - e.g. evaluation, critical analysis;
communication, numeracy and IT skills; and
autonomy, accountability and working with others.
Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
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Developing skills in science: extracts from
Principles and Practice
In the sciences, effective learning and teaching depends upon the sk ilful use
of varied approaches, including:
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active learning and planned, purposeful play
the development of problem-solving skills and analytical thinking skills
the development of scientific practical investigation and inquiry
the use of relevant contexts, familiar to young people’s experiences
appropriate and effective use of technology, real materials and living
things
 building on the principles of Assessment is for Learning
 collaborative learning and independent thinking
 emphasis on children explaining their understanding of concepts, informed
discussion and communication.
Inquiry and investigative skills
Through experimenting and carrying out practical scientific investigations
and other research to solve problems and challenges, children and young
people:
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ask questions or hypothesise
plan and design procedures and experiments
select appropriate samples, equipment and other resources
carry out experiments
use practical analytical techniques
observe, collect, measure and record evidenc e, taking account of safety
and controlling risk and hazards
 present, analyse and interpret data to draw conclusions
 review and evaluate results to identify limitations and improvements
 present and report on findings.
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The main approaches to science inquiry are:
 observing and exploring – careful observation of how something behaves,
looking for changes over time and exploring ‘ what happens if...?’ and
‘how could I...?’ questions
 classifying – through identifying key characteristics
 fair testing – through identifying all possible variables and then changing
only one while controlling all others
 finding an association – linking two variables to determine relationships.
Scientific analytical thinking skills
Children and young people develop a range of analytical thinking skills in
order to make sense of scientific evidence and concepts. This involves them:
 being open to new ideas and linking and applying learning
 thinking creatively and critically
 developing skills of reasoning to provide expl anations and evaluations
supported by evidence or justifications
 making predictions, generalisations and deductions
 drawing conclusions based on reliable scientific evidence.
How can I plan for progression in the skills of scientific
investigations, inquiry and analytical thinking?
Throughout the framework, investigation and cognitive skills are signalled
within the experiences and outcomes across all levels. The skills become
more complex as learners’ conceptual understanding develops within
increasingly complex science contexts.
Teachers can plan to focus on the development of specific skills through
investigations, inquiries or challenges, with occasional opportunities for more
detailed and comprehensive activities, recognising that any one inves tigation
does not always require children and young people to develop the full range
of skills.
A broad indication of expectations for the development of these skills at
second level and at third/fourth level may be helpful.
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Second level
Children take part in a range of scientific investigations and inquiries which
develop their understanding of the underlying scientific concepts appropriate
for second level. They develop a growing awareness of themselves and the
world around them through observation, collecting specimens and carrying
out experiments. They develop their ability to formulate questions or
predictions based on observations or information that can be answered
through experimentation, inquiry and research. As they answer these
questions, they show an increasing awareness of the factors that could be
changed and can plan a ‘fair test’ that involves keeping all the factors the
same except one.
While conducting experiments, children are able to safely use simple tools,
equipment, apparatus and procedures. They make observations, collect
information and make measurements accurately using relevant devices and
standard units and ICT where appropriate. They can select, with assistance,
appropriate methods to record their findings.
Learners at this level use simple charts and diagrams to present, analyse and
interpret their findings, identifying simple relationships, making links to their
original questions or predictions and drawing conclusions consistent with
findings. They can present their findings in writing, orally or visually using a
variety of media.
Third and fourth level
Young people take part in a range of scientific investigations and inquiries
which develop their understanding of the underlying scientific concepts
appropriate for third and fourth levels. They will take a more quantitative and
formalised approach to investigations and inquiries. As learners plan and
design their investigations, they identify a number of key questions,
formulating hypotheses and predictions based on observation or their
knowledge. They control and vary an increased number of more complex
variables.
Learners become more evaluative and increasingly take the initiative in
decision making about samples, measurements, equipment and procedures to
use. They demonstrate increased precision in their use of terminology, units
and scales. They apply safety measures and take the necessary action to
control risk and hazards. They collect and analyse increasingly complex data
and information including using data loggers and software analysis tools.
Young people establish links between their findings and the original question,
hypothesis or prediction. They establish relationships between variables and
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use a relationship, equation or formulae to find a qualitati ve or quantitative
solution. They evaluate a range of aspects of their investigation or inquiry
including the relevance and reliability of the evidence.
Young people provide explanations of their findings based on evidence in
terms of cause and effect and by applying their understanding of the
underlying scientific concepts. They begin to consider alternative
explanations and apply or extend conclusions to new situations or identify
further studies. They communicate effectively in a range of ways includin g
orally and through scientific report writing.
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Exemplification of learning and teaching: using
technology in physics
Screen-casting to develop communication skills: a practitioner
reflects
This idea for learning and teaching introduces the use of ICT to support the
development of learners’ use of analogy in physics and scientific literacy.
This approach provides a method of assessment of learners’ progress, and a
method of gathering evidence for the learners’ profile.
Context
A PGDE student had been taking a class for a number of weeks. Learning and
teaching was focused on electricity, including resistance. As the class
teacher, I wanted to assess the learners’ understanding of resistance.
However, I also wanted to deepen their understanding a nd present a new
challenge as a natural consequence of the planned learning and teaching.
Rather than use a test or a textbook exercise to assess learners’
understanding, I chose to assess understanding by presenting three questions
for investigation:
 The number of lamps in a series circuit is increased. What happens to the
total resistance?
 The number of lamps in a parallel circuit is increased. What happens to the
total resistance?
 The number of lamps in series on one branch of a parallel circuit is
increased. What happens to the total resistance?
This approach presents opportunity for assessment of skills associated with
practical tasks, investigative work and communication.
Enactment
The learners were provided with trays of lamps, wires and ohmmete rs, and
asked to:
 predict the outcome of each of the three questions for investigation (this
would provide a snapshot of the learners’ knowledge )
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 design and carry out the investigation, making and discussing observations
 explain observations through use of a model or analogy, or through a video
tutorial
 evaluate and provide feedback on video tutorials completed by other
learners.
No other direction was given. Assistance was provided only where required to
ensure adherence to health and safety rules, or with technical support for
software. This freed me as the class teacher to observe learners’ interactions
and record progress.
Learners worked collaboratively to:
 make predictions
 design and carry out investigations to make appropriate observations
 discuss results and draw conclusions.
The next stage of the work was crucial to engaging learners in a process of
reflecting on their understanding by constructing an explanation, using a
model or an analogy, communicated with others via a video tutorial. F or this,
learners made a presentation and recorded a commentary to accompany the
presentation. The tutorials were shared using a Glow discussion forum.
Observations
The freedom of not doing a prescribed experiment to cover a learning
outcome led to an observable increase in learner engagement; learners were
active in exploring by themselves how they would investigate .
Learners who were not present throughout the learning and teaching, and
therefore missed the ‘making observations’ stage, played a useful role within
the groups; these learners were able to comment on explanations and models
in the role of ‘critical friend’. The ability to explain and clearly communicate
understanding is a vital literacy skill and th e evaluation by peers was valued
by the learners.
When I engage with others I can make a relevant contribution, ensure that
everyone has an opportunity to contribute and encourage them to take
account of others’ points of view or alternative solutions.
I can respond in ways appropriate to my role, exploring and expanding on
contributions to reflect on, clarify or adapt thinking.
LIT 4-02a
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The screen-casting software used to produce the video tutorial added real
value to the presentations. It took them beyond the commonplace PowerPoint
and provided opportunity for various aspects of literacy to be explored.
I can independently select ideas and relevant information for different
purposes, organise essential information or ideas and any supporting detail
in a logical order, and use suitable vocabulary to communicate effectively
with my audience.
LIT 3-06a/LIT 4-06a
When listening and talking with others for different purposes, I can:
 communicate detailed information, ideas or opinions
 explain processes, concepts or ideas with some relevant suppo rting detail
 sum up ideas, issues, findings or conclusions.
LIT 4-09a
I can justify my choice and use of layout and presentation in terms of the
intended impact on my reader.
LIT 4-24a
I can convey information and describe events, explain processes or co ncepts,
providing substantiating evidence, and synthesise ideas or opinions in
different ways.
LIT 4-28a
For this work, purchased software available within the school was used , but
free software is available that is equally effective.
Benefits
Learners were given the opportunity to work collaboratively to learn in a
more open-ended manner, with motivation to work with all in the group to
ensure the best possible outcome. Such an approach offers more than the
traditional idea that science incorporates gr oup work simply because learners
share resources.
Learners’ feedback on the use of Glow was very positive. This was their first
experience of using the Glow discussion forum; one described it as ‘Facebook
for school’. Learners could immediately see the benefits of using this as the
basis of an online learning community, allowing them to receive feedback
from critical friends. This approach to providing quality feedback worked
well, and helps to guide learners on appropriate behaviour towards others
when using social media. Presenting work using a screen -cast commentary
approach has a number of other benefits:
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 It provides the opportunity for reflection and editing during its creation, to
improve quality of work.
 It allows for learners who may not be confident in presenting to a group to
present work in a non-threatening way, building confidence.
 It allows the opportunity for learners to develop and improve
communication skills through a non-threatening ‘critical friend’ approach.
 It provides evidence of the learners’ understanding.
 It benchmarks for planning to meet the needs of individuals in future
learning and teaching.
Next steps
This approach has been successful for a new strategy for use with learners,
enhancing learning and teaching in a number of w ays. It has generated deeper
understanding through building in the opportunity for reflection on learning.
As a class teacher, this approach provided an opportunity to assess
knowledge, understanding and learners’ ability to communicate this
understanding. Using ICT also provides a record for reference in planning
next steps for learners. A number of examples are highlighted here:
 Learners used a range of analogies, including school corridors, voters’
preferences for politicians and obstacle courses. Use of analogies and
modelling is such an important aspect of science that it is useful to capture
this and use it as a basis for discussing effective models and their
limitations.
 Reviewing learners’ screen casts highlighted common misconceptions that
could then be explored with individual learners or groups of learners,
through, for example, planning for further learning and teaching that
challenges these misconceptions.
 Learners may be asked to revisit their screen -cast presentation once they
have undertaken further learning and consider:
- what limitations they can now see in the analogy used
- how their understanding has further developed and how explanations
could be amended or enriched for greater depth
- any aspects of the communication of their understanding which could
be improved for greater clarity.
 Reviewing learners’ screen casts identified the categories from the revised
Bloom’s taxonomy (Anderson and Krathwohl, 2001) used in the
investigation, communicating of findings and creation of analogies to aid
learners in understanding strengths and weaknesses in their learning.
This short Education Scotland video emphasises the importance of
communication and interpersonal skills in sci ence.
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Working with senior phase learners to deepen understanding:
practitioner reflection
This vodcast involves practitioners and learners in senior classes. The
practitioners reflect on their classroom practice, and in particular on the use
of Assessment is for Learning and co-operative learning strategies with senior
classes. The vodcast draws on the work by Rodrigues (2010) regardin g
analysing classroom practice and his work informing teacher professional
development (2005).
Motion as a context for developing numeracy
This idea for learning and teaching is focused around the development of
learners’ skills in numeracy and understanding the physical meaning of
numbers in context.
Motion as a context for developing skills in interpreting gra phs
This idea for learning and teaching is focused around the development of
skills in the context of learning and teaching of motion. It is anticipated that
learners would be familiar with vectors and scalars, and in particular the
quantities displacement, velocity and acceleration.
A starter question (and answer) for learners:
‘What is the connection
between David Beckham,
Usain Bolt, a tennis ball
and Sir Isaac Newton?
Footballers, golfers,
tennis players, runners,
skiers – they all have
something in common.
They have the ability to
make split-second
decisions about how their
actions will affect their
performance: how the
curve of a
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ball will affect whether they score that crucial penalty, whether a change of
angle of a golf club will improve performance. Whether or not they know it,
they are making use of the physics of motion. Learning about the principles
of the physics of motion and the ability to explain it using words, diagrams,
equations and graphs will also equip you with a range of skills which you will
make use of in a range of contexts, both within your physics learning and in
other areas.
Although the ability to plot a graph accurately is important, it is essential to
be able to interpret graphs and to visualise the shape of a graph for a given
motion.’
Questions for learners
Consider the graphs shown. All three relate to the same event. For each
graph, identify the following:
 What is the graph about? For example, the first graph shows displacement
in metres plotted against time in seconds. When dealing with motion in
one dimension, this means it is a plot of how far an object moved from its
original position in a given time.
 What is the ‘story’ of the graph? For example, in the first graph, as time
increases, the displacement stays the same. This means that as time passes,
the object remains the same distance from its original position.
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Using a motion sensor, recreate the motion to match the ‘story’ and determine
whether or not this produces graphs as above.
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Repeat this cycle for the following two sets of graphs.
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For the given graphs, consider whether there is any significance to the
gradient of the graph or to the area under the graph. Carry out investigations
and compare quantities measured with values calculated from the graphs to
establish the meaning of gradients and areas under the various graphs.
For the graphs given, sketch and consider the equivalent distance–time and
speed–time graphs.
Learners can build on their understanding of interpreting graphs to describe
motion.
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Questions for learners
Consider a stationary tennis ball. Describe its motion using the terms
displacement, velocity, and acceleration.
Consider a tennis ball dropped vertically from a height. Describe its motion
using the terms displacement, velocity and acceleration. Sketch your
predictions for speed–time, velocity–time, distance–time, displacement–time
and acceleration–time graphs. Filming the motion and using motion analysis
software will allow you to confirm the motion and to check your predictions
for graphs of the motion.
Consider a tennis ball dropped vertically from a height and allowed to bounce
and return to its original height. Sketch your predictions for speed –time,
velocity–time, distance–time, displacement–time and acceleration–time
graphs. Filming the motion and using motion analysis software will allow you
confirm the motion and to check your predictions for graphs of the motion.
Check your understanding:
Describe the motion.
Indicate the values for the y-axis.
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Consider the tennis ball thrown upwards and allowed to fall back down to its
starting position. Describe the motion of the ball using the terms speed,
velocity, acceleration and displacement. Sketch the speed–time, velocity–time
and acceleration–time graphs to describe the motion until it returns to its
starting position. What is the force acting on a tennis ball thrown upwards?
Investigating acceleration to develop skills in evaluation
The acceleration of an object can be investigated in a number of ways.
Methods of measurement of acceleration include the following:
1.
Using light gates connected to a timing unit, with single -mask and
double-mask set-ups.
2.
Using a motion sensor, which measures displacement with time and
from this calculates velocity and acceleration .
3.
Using an accelerometer, which measures acceleration directly.
Questions for learners
What sort of accelerations do you experience in everyday life? Suggest
typical values for everyday accelerations. How can th ese be investigated?
Do you experience accelerations only in the horizontal direction?
Predict, observe and explain the displacement –time, velocity–time and
acceleration–time graphs for a variety of motions, including horizontal and
vertical motions.
Consider the advantages and disadvantages of different methods of measuring
acceleration in different circumstances.
Determine which method is the most appropriate for the measurements you
are making. Evaluate your experimental set-up and suggest problems and
potential improvements.
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Projectile motion analysis for developing skills in interpreting
graphs and evaluation
This idea for learning and teaching is focused around the use of software to
develop learners’ skills in numeracy, with a particular focus on allowing for
challenge to meet the needs of a range of learners. In this example, a digital
camera which captures video footage of a maximum of 60 s and free motion
analysis software tracker.jar are used.
The CPD from which this learning and teaching was developed was provided
by the physics team at the Scottish Science Education Research Centre
(SSERC). SSERC provides current CPD and support for use of tracker.jar for
practitioners in Scotland. This exemplar is not intended to teach learners to
use tracker.jar. Learners’ familiarity with the software is assumed.
Learners could capture footage of motion using a simple flipcam. In this
exemplar, footage of a tennis ball rolling off a laboratory bench was provided
for learners.
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tracker.jar was used to step through the clip frame by frame, marking the
position of the tennis ball in each frame, as indicated above.
Using the interactive white board, or on hard copies of the image, vertical
lines can be added.
Questions for learners
Which motion is being considered when looking at the lines drawn vertically
on the image?
What do you notice about the spacing of the lines and what does this tell you
about the horizontal motion of the ball?
Explain the horizontal motion of the ball in terms of Newton’s first law.
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Evaluating the experiment: an opportunity to introduce the concept of
uncertainties
Notice that although the spacing of the lines is approximately even, the lines
in fact appear to be grouped in pairs.
Consider some of the constraints of the experiment that may have affected the
accuracy, eg number of frames captured by the camera, accuracy of the user’s
judgement when marking the motion in tracker.jar, accuracy when drawing
the vertical lines. Are there improvements which could be made , eg does
drawing the vertical lines on a hard copy of the image allow for greater
accuracy?
tracker.jar also graphs the data, as the markers are placed on the video
footage, and can include a best-fit line.
Questions for learners
How far has the ball travelled horizontally?
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tracker.jar allows a best-fit line to be drawn. Notice how ‘messy’ the plotted
data is. Considering again the issues identified with respect to the accuracy of
the experiment.
Questions for learners
How far has the ball travelled horizontally? Referring to the metre stick in the
clip to give a sense of scale, estimate the horizontal distance travelled (the
range).
How can this be calculated? Using the area under the graph, calculate the
horizontal range.
Compare the calculated value with your estimated value.
Use the best-fit line value for speed to calculate the horizontal range.
Compare the value calculated using this method with your calculation of the
area under the graph.
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The data from tracker.jar can be copied and pasted in to a spreadsheet, eg
Microsoft Excel. It may be appropriate to do this where learners have not yet
been introduced to the concepts of vectors, scalars and the sign convention.
Alternatively, motion analysis using tracker.jar can introduce this concept.
Questions for learners
How far has the ball travelled horizontally? Referring to the metre stick in the
clip to give a sense of scale, estimate the horizontal distance travelled (the
range).
How can this be calculated? Using the area under the graph, calculate the
horizontal range.
Compare the calculated value with your estimated va lue.
Use the best-fit line value for speed to calculate the horizontal range.
Compare the value calculated using this method with your calculation of the
area under the graph.
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Using the interactive white board, or on hard copies of the image, horizontal
lines can be drawn on the image.
Questions for learners
Which motion is being considered when looking at the lines drawn
horizontally on the image?
What do you notice about the spacing of the lines and what does this tell you
about the vertical motion of the ball?
Explain the vertical motion of the ball.
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tracker.jar also graphs the data, as the markers are placed on the video
footage, and can include a best-fit line.
Questions for learners
How far has the ball travelled vertically?
What do the negative values of velocity indicate about the motion of the ball?
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Questions for learners
How far has the ball travelled vertically? Referring to the metre stick in the
clip to give a sense of scale, estimate the vertical distance travelled.
How can this be calculated? Using the area under the graph, calculate the
vertical range.
Compare the calculated value with your estimated value.
What is the formula for calculation of the gradient of a straight line?
gradient m = (y 2 – y 1 )/(x 2 – x 1 )
gradient m = (speed2 – speed1)/(time2-time1)
ie the gradient of the line is the change in speed per second, ie the
acceleration.
What is causing the acceleration of the ball? Calculate the gradient of the
best-fit line and compare it to the expected value.
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Compare the acceleration calculated from the gradient of the line with the
accepted value for acceleration due to gravity. Identify factors which may
have affected the accuracy of the result.
Having used tracker.jar to support the learning and teaching associated with
horizontal and vertical motion of a horizontal projectile, learners can use this
understanding to explore a common misconception regarding acceleration due
to gravity.
The two balls appear to be identical. Both drop and hit the ground a t the same
time. A learner asked to retrieve them will observe a significantly different
mass. One ball is as bought, the other has been filled with liquid , but both hit
the ground at exactly the same time.
Once the learners are aware of the difference i n mass they may try to observe
a difference between the times at which the balls hit the ground in order to fit
this in with a common misconception that heavier objects fall more quickly
than lighter objects.
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Planning an approach to investigate this should incorporate learners’
understanding of uncertainties previously introduced, as far as this is
appropriate to the learner.
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This simple demonstration can form the basis of learners’ notes to
demonstrate understanding.
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