Online reading assignment: speed and velocity

Physics 205A, fall semester 2013
Cuesta College, San Luis Obispo, CA

Students have a weekly online reading assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com), where they answer questions based on reading their textbook, material covered in previous lectures, opinion questions, and/or asking (anonymous) questions or making (anonymous) comments. Full credit is given for completing the online reading assignment before next week's lecture, regardless if whether their answers are correct/incorrect. Selected results/questions/comments are addressed by the instructor at the start of the following lecture.

The following questions were asked on the reading textbook chapters (Giambattista/Richardson/Richardson, Physics, 2/e, Chs. 2.1-2.2) and previewing a presentation on displacement, distance traveled, and average/instantaneous speed/velocity.

Selected/edited responses are given below.

Describe something you found interesting from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally interesting for you.

"I found it interesting that distance traveled can only be a positive number. I never thought of moving backwards as distance traveled."

"Displacement, velocity, and average speed all seem to be very similair equations that build upon each other. This could be tricky if you do not know how each separate equation works."

"I'm kind of interested in how you intend to implement the 'flipped the classroom.' A lot of my teachers go about the generic way of teaching so this form of teaching would be new."

"The difference in cell phone opinions the further back the people were in the class."

Describe something you found confusing from the assigned textbook reading or presentation preview, and explain why this was personally confusing for you.

"At first I didn't understand the average velocity equations, but after looking through the textbook and re-reading the presentation preview I began to understand it."

"The average speed and the average velocity--it's still confusing because they are similar."

"I've never been introduced to velocity so I think it's so confusing to me because there weren't very many examples explaining the concepts and I haven't listened to a lecture on it. I usually don't gain much from reading the textbook--I'm more of a lecture-based learner so once I have it thoroughly explained to me I'm hoping to better understand it."

"Conversions will be the death of me!"

Mark the level of your exposure to (basic calculus) concepts of derivatives/integrals.

None at all.	*************** [15]
Slight.	************** [13]
Some.	********* [9]
A fair amount.	************** [14]
A lot.	******** [8]

Briefly describe how you would walk along a straight, level road such that your distance traveled would be longer than your displacement.

"Not walking in a perfectly straight line, or walking forward and backtracking can cause the distance traveled to be greater than the displacement."

"I would walk straight for half the total distance I planned to travel, then turn around and walk back the other half of the total distance. My distance would be much greater than my displacement (which would be zero)."

"I would walk, then pause for a little mid-walk, then continue walking."

In general, average speed will be __________ the magnitude of average velocity.

less than.	** [2]
equal.	***************** [17]
greater.	****************** [18]
(More than one of the above choices.)	********* [9]
(None of the above choices.)	** [2]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)	********** [10]

An odometer measures an object's:

displacement.	***** [5]
distance traveled.	************************************************** [52]
(instantaneous) velocity.	[0]
(instantaneous) speed.	[0]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)	* [1]

A speedometer measures an object's:

displacement.	* [1]
distance traveled.	* [1]
(instantaneous) velocity.	************ [12]
(instantaneous) speed.	******************************************** [44]
(Unsure/guessing/lost/help!)	[0]

Ask the instructor an anonymous question, or make a comment. Selected questions/comments may be discussed in class.

"This course has challenging material, but it's helpful with this 'flipped class' approach. I always see 'read this before the next lecture' in class syllabi, but this course actually takes advantage of this approach. I get motivated to do the reading."

"I think that I get this material pretty well so far but I just wish that we had more of a lecture during class."

"I would like to go over physics in class. These last couple days I feel like the instructor assumes we know more than we actually do." (Well, inform me via this online reading assignment how much you comprehended (or did not comprehend) from the textbook and presentation, so I can take it from there.)

"Are these questions graded for credit, or simply for your knowledge on how we're understanding concepts? Do I lose points if I leave this blank?" (Yes, yes, and no, if you filled out the most of the rest of the assignment.)

"Can you give more examples on the board?" (Sure, if the assigned homework report reflects massive difficulties for the class as a whole.)

"Is there a copy of the textbook on reserve in the library?" (Yes, along with a student solutions manual. Unless someone steals this year's reserve copy, again. You know that person? Don't be that person.)

"How worried should I be about the amount of calculus we will be using?" (Don't worry, I will teach you a method of doing calculus...without knowing that you're doing calculus.)

"If we know about derivatives and integrals, are we allowed to use that on exams?" (Sure, if you want to be a show-off.)