7 Position vs Time Graphs Teaching Ideas to Bring the WOW Factor

Teaching position vs time graphs in your science classroom? Position-time graphs can show you a lot about an object’s motion, and these are fairly easy to interpret.

You can see where an object is at a particular time. The “shape” and “lines” of the graph can tell you a lot! You can glance to see if an object is moving at a constant speed (forward or backward), not moving at all, or if it is accelerating.

Honestly, graphing is not a student favorite most of the time, but that doesn’t mean that it needs to be a dull lesson, you can still bring the WOW Factor when teaching.

Position Vs Time Graphs WONDER Activities

WONDER activities are those that help students actually want to learn instead of just going through the motions. Once you get your students engaged, the rest is a piece of cake. Here are three things you can try in your class to engage your students. You choose one, two, or even three of them depending on the time you have for this unit.

Moving Man Exploration

This PhET simulation is perfect for learning about how position vs time graphs work in a visual, hands-on type way.

Students can manipulate a little moving man at different positions and speeds over however many seconds they’d like.

Before teaching the content, give students a chance to just explore and play with this simulation! Just let them click on charts and go!

Here are some guiding questions to ask along the way:

1. What happens to the position chart when the man moves to the left of zero? To the right?
2. What happens to the position chart when the man moves really fast?
3. Does the position chart look different when the man isn’t moving at all?
4. Try to make the man move at a constant speed. What does the position chart look like?
5. Move the man fast and slow. What do you notice?
6. Try to make a steep slope. Now, try to make a shallow slope.
7. Explore the velocity and acceleration charts as well. What do you notice?

If you want to dive into the velocity and acceleration charts as an extension, Mr. Anderson has a cool video on these things in his Position vs Time Graphs video.

Post-It Story Guessing Activity

Another fun way to introduce your students to position vs time graphs is to tell them “stories” and let them guess what the graph will look like.

1. Give each student a post-it note. Tell them to draw a sketch of a graph, just the axes.
2. Tell them a story or post it on the board. You can use ChatGPT to come up with a little story, or you can make up one on your own. You can get students interested by using one of their names in the story or just make it interesting to them…whatever the trend is these days! Here’s an example from ChatGPT. I asked it to bring in today’s trends. “Taylor strapped on her new LED roller skates, ready to show off for her friends on TikTok. Gliding down the sidewalk at a steady speed, the skates lit up with every move. Suddenly, Taylor stopped to check her phone for likes. Realizing she forgot her charger at home, she spun around and zoomed back, skating faster than before to grab it, making it just in time for a livestream”.
3. Tell them to sketch what they think the graph will look like.
4. Once students are finished with their post-it graph, they can bring it to a designated spot on the board.
5. You or a student volunteer can look at the graphs. Are there any trends? Do the graphs look the same? Why or why not?

This is a fun way to pre-assess students on what they already know about motion graphs!

Position vs Time Graphs Examples – Volunteer Fun

Another thing that you can do is have students to “act out” a graph, with the help of their classmates. This can look many different ways, but here is an idea.

1. Pull up a graph on the board. You can draw your own or just “google” one.
2. Ask for a student volunteer to come act the graph out.
3. Be sure to place a piece of tape on the floor or choose a reference point.
4. Start with one section of the graph at a time. An example of this is to act out a horizontal line, then an accelerating line, then a line that with a negative slope, etc.
5. Let students act it out, receiving help on what to do from their classmates!
6. Do as many graphs as you’d like with as many students you’d like.
7. This is a great way to pre-assess students while helping them to visualize!

Position Versus Time Graphs Interactive Lesson

After you get your students WONDERing about this topic, it’s time to dive deeper into the practice. Interactive lessons are a great way to do this!

Interactive lessons are designed with the student in mind! I mean, as an adult, my attention span isn’t that great but think about your students!

These lessons incorporate the 7 steps to help students retain information, ultimately helping them to stay focused and retain the information in their long-term memory.

This position-time graphs lesson is no exception! This lesson highlights important information, segments information, assesses students in chunks, and more!

This lesson covers the position vs time graph. It looks at reference point, what each axis is, what the different lines mean on a graph (constant speed, no motion, positive slope, negative slope, etc.), and more!

Inside, there are activities to assess students along the way including exploring outside resources, story writing, drag-and-drop activities, and more!

Position vs Time Graphs WIDEN Activities

Looking for some ways to extend student knowledge on this topic? Here are three ideas!

Vernier Motion Detector

Have you seen a motion detector tucked away in your science closet? Do you know you already have one?

This is a great way for students to become the “moving man” (see above). Students can move to create their own graphs!

There are lots of labs to go with this software if you purchase the book. This may be something you already have, or you can always use grant money to purchase.

Create-a-Motion-Video

Here’s a little something different! Students can draw their own position-time graph and then create a video to explain the graph! The video can be short-form, stop-motion animations, a mini-skit, interview-style. It can be however you (or they) wish!

• First, have students create a position vs time graph they will be creating a motion video for. They will need to make sure it’s neat and everything is labeled!
• Then, they can create their video!
• Students can work in groups for this activity.

Art Challenge

Last, but not least, you can challenge your students to create a position vs time graph that looks like something such as a rocket, building, tree, mountain, or anything they can come up with!

Then, they should be able to explain a “story” that would match the graph!