Comment about my Create an Argument Assignment

First of all here is my Create an Argument assignment on being fast! I am hopeful that the students will benefit in the following ways:

1) They will learn about HOW speeds of people and things are measured.

2) They will see real examples of average and instantaneous speeds.

3) They will be engaged in the activity because of the authenticity of the data.

4) They will become curious about the conversion between mph and m/s.

The Fastest Things on Earth

People and things are moving from place to place all the time. Sometimes the very purpose of moving is to determine who or what moves the fastest. Running events in track, NASCAR races, many Olympic competitions are just a few of the examples of when being fastest is important.

Consider some of the data on the following site: http://hypertextbook.com/facts/index-topics.shtml

Is fast about the time it takes to go a certain distance?

Is fast about speed, velocity or acceleration?

Is fast an average thing or an instantaneous thing?

You’ll have to answer these questions with your group before you tackle the big question:

What are the fastest things on Earth?**Excluding light

With your group, develop an explanation that can be used to answer this simple, but important, question. Make sure you have good evidence and reasoning to support your explanation. You can record any observations or notes you make as you work in the space below.

Interactive poster session

Once your group has developed an explanation that answers this question, prepare a Glogster that you can use to share and justify your ideas. Your Glogster should include all the information shown in the diagram. (OK the diagram didn't copy over, but you've all seen it in the article.)

Remember, as you critique the work of others, you have to decide whether their conclusions are valid or acceptable based quality of their explanation and how well they are able to support their ideas. In other words, you need to determine if their argument is persuasive and convincing. To do this, ask yourself the following questions:

• Is their explanation sufficient (i.e., it explains everything it needs to) and coherent (i.e., it is free from contradictions)?

• Did they use genuine evidence (i.e., They organized their data in a way that shows a trend over time, a relationship between variables, or a difference between groups)?

• Did they use enough evidence to support their ideas (i.e., They used more than one piece of evidence and all their ideas are supported by evidence)?

• Is there any counterevidence that does not support their explanation?

• How well does their explanation fit with other theories and laws that are used in science to explain or describe how the world works?

• Is their rationale adequate (i.e., They explain why the evidence was used and why it supports the explanation)?

• Is their reasoning appropriate (rational and sound)?

Taken from Generate and Argument by Sampson and Grooms in The Science Teacher, summer 2010.

Relevant information about this problem

Average speed is defined as distance traveled divided by the time to travel.

Average velocity is defined as displacement (change in position) divided by the time to change position.

Acceleration is defined as change in velocity divided by the time to change velocity.

Instantaneous speed and velocity relate how fast something is going at one instant in time. For example: As I constantly accelerate my car from 0 to 60 mph it passes through 50mph for a split second. At that moment in time my instantaneous speed was 50. If I was able to accelerate constantly my average speed would have been 30 mph for the entire acceleration period.

Units

In the metric system the fundamental unit for time is the second, s.

The fundamental unit for distances and displacements is the meter, m.

The derived unit for speed and velocity is the meter per second, m/s.

The derived unit for acceleration is the meter per second squared, m/s².