Peer Review

The Moving Man

Material Detail page

Reviewed:: May 31, 2006 by Physics

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Ratings

Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:: This applet displays the position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time graphs
for an animated man moving in a horizontal direction. The user can select the position, velocity, and acceleration by typing values, or can create the motion by adjusting slider bars or dragging the man with the mouse. The corresponding motion is plotted. The velocity and acceleration vectors of the moving man can be displayed in the animation as well. The user is able to pause and playback any motion at any time or clear the graphs to start over.
Type of Material:: An interactive simulation / animation.
Recommended Uses:: Lecture demonstration, part of homework assignments, or virtual laboratory and pre-laboratory exercises.
Technical Requirements:: This is a standalone Java application that requires Java Web Start 1.2 or
better to run.
Identify Major Learning Goals:: This applet is designed to help students interpret position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time graphs for any number of situations and to help them understand the relationships between the standard kinematic variables for one dimensional motion.
Target Student Population:: High school physics through all levels of introductory college physics and
physical science. It can also be used in middle school physical science classes.
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:: A basic understanding of position, velocity, and acceleration and the ability to interpret graphs are required.

Content Quality

Rating:
Strengths:: The content of this simulation is excellent. Calculations for the average velocity and acceleration agreed with the ones plotted on the graphs.

The applet provides a good simulation alternative to motion detector exercises.
Concerns:: None.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

This applet is a very good qualitative exercise for interpreting graphs. It can be used as a supplement to Microcomputer Based Labs (MBL) that use motion
detectors. Furthermore, if MBL resources are not available, this applet can be used as a virtual laboratory.

The option to show the velocity and acceleration vectors on the diagram is a
plus, however, see the caveat below. This will help students develop and
check their understanding of "speeding up", where the velocity and acceleration
are in the same direction, and "slowing down", where they are in opposite
directions.

The ability to reverse the coordinate axis can be used to help students understand that physics is independent of coordinates.

Concerns:

Plotting the velocity and the acceleration vectors on the x-axis and on top of
the feet of the "moving man" has some potential for confusion for students. They may misinterpret vectors with different units being plotted together and the vectors are hard to see for the smaller speeds.

The scope of this applet is limited to 1D motion. There are other simulations developed by this group on motion in two dimensions, but these have a somewhat different interface.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

This simulation has a very easy interface to learn and use. One is able to construct motion graphs with little trouble. Graphs may be saved and loaded at a later time.

The user can stop the simulation in the middle and change the velocity or acceleration to show how a graph changes for varying accelerations.

This simulation runs over the Internet but can be downloaded directly to any
computer as well. This would allow one to run the simulation when an Internet
connection is not readily available.

Concerns:

Choosing larger numbers for velocity and acceleration makes the simulation hard to view. There is only a one-speed slow-motion toggle for playback of simulations.

It is difficult to smoothly drag the man at a constant velocity such that the
acceleration plot is smooth. This, of course, is due to the difficulty in making smooth motions with the mouse.

Other Issues and Comments:: This simulation is part of a growing collection created by the Physics Education Technology Group. The materials in this collection are designed using the most recent findings in Physics Education Research. Research results on the impact of the simulations on student learning and a database of instructor-submitted lesson plans are available on the web site.
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