Yeah, motion maps are a fantastic tool in the right hands, in the right situation. And it seems like younger students can really use those to make meaning when their graphing skills aren't yet developed bsky.app/profile/seca... - ThreadSky

secaurphysics.bsky.social • 83 days ago

Yeah, motion maps are a fantastic tool in the right hands, in the right situation. And it seems like younger students can really use those to make meaning when their graphing skills aren't yet developed

https://bsky.app/profile/secaurphysics.bsky.social/post/3lconoimn2s2a

Reposted from Jeremy Secaur

I am sure some of my friends will argue that motion maps should be way higher, but I would say it all comes down to how they're used...B-tier in the right conditions can be S, and that's motion maps. It all comes down to how they are framed in class/use cases

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emmaphys.bsky.social•83 days ago

100%. And motion maps really help them to understand graphs better, the way we use them to physically build a graph for the first time. Saw that for the first time in the #ModPhys CMPF-B workshop with the great @mrsgphysics.bsky.social! Works so well for 9th graders.

secaurphysics.bsky.social•83 days ago

I did a workshop with Bryan Battaglia (not on here?) last summer and he made the same fuss about motion maps. And that makes sense because he's always copying Melissa's homework

mrsgphysics.bsky.social•83 days ago

🤣

mrsgphysics.bsky.social•83 days ago

I’d add state diagrams, but not sure where. We use these to determine what is changing in the system, and they make a great bridge to chemical physics, I mean chemistry.

secaurphysics.bsky.social•83 days ago

State diagrams are fairly new for me, but last summer in the workshop I really liked them for connecting to the bars I draw on my energy bar charts

aserkin.bsky.social•82 days ago

Hey! I see what you did there. #ChemisLife

bowtiediene.bsky.social•82 days ago

I don't think I'm familiar with state diagrams. Is there an example you might share?

mrsgphysics.bsky.social•82 days ago

Each state diagram is a snapshot of the system at a clock reading. Here is a whiteboard my students drew that uses a series of state diagrams to depict the motion of two cyclists with different initial positions and constant velocities. Think macroscopic particle diagram.

emmaphys.bsky.social•83 days ago

🤣 It’s a great transition sequence!

secaurphysics.bsky.social•83 days ago

It is! I also find that my students get bored pretty quickly with motion maps and they connect more readily with the graphs, and I don't fight it (but do require them to draw motion maps often). So I could get more mileage out of motion maps but choose not to fight that fight (for now)

emmaphys.bsky.social•83 days ago

Probably a difference between 9th and 11th grade! We focus on motion maps much less in my 11th/12th-grade class. Students are much more comfortable with graphs by then.

emmaphys.bsky.social•83 days ago

My 9th graders find them extremely fun. But they’re basically big middle schoolers who find pretty much everything extremely fun. Except for things that are extremely not fun.

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