Free Fall - Directions

 

How it Works:

Using the Free Fall Concept Builder is quite simple. You will be presented with a position-time graph and a question. There are three different activities, each with a different emphasis. In each activity you will be presented with a question that you will have to answer. In the first activity - Describing Free Fall - you will be presented with a collection of multiple choice questions that focus on the nature of the velocity and acceleration (direction, changes or constancy). Most questions have two parts and two corresponding answers. You will tap on one of the answer choices and it will be hilighted (red text and a red-colored selection button). You can deselect your choice (by tapping on it a second time) or select a different choice (by tapping on it). Once you have selected answers to both questions, a Check Answer button appears. Once you are satisfied with your answers, tap on the Check Answer button. Your answers will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated. 

In the second activity - Speedometer - you will be presented with a trajectory diagram for a 30 m/s, 40 m/s, or 50 m/s upward launch. Locations of the object at 1-second intervals of time are shown on the diagram and labeled with a letter. You must determine the location on the diagram where the object has a specified speed and direction. You select your answer by tapping on the answer field. Tapping toggles the displayed answer through the list of possible answers. Select your ffavorite answer and tap on the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated. 

In the third activity - It's About Time - you will be presented with information about the speed and direction of a free-falling object at a given time. You will have to use the acceleration caused by gravity to determine the approximate time at which the projectile will have two other specified speeds and directions. You can select your answer by tapping on the Answer field. Doing so toggles through all the possible choices. For a few of the questions, there is an option "Not possible" that will appear after tappging through all the numbers. Once you have selected times to both speeds, a Check Answer button appears. Once you are satisfied with your answers, tap on the Check Answer button. Your answers will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated. 
 

 

Earning Stars

There are three activities in this Concept Builder. When you start up any of these activities, the number of questions for that activity are shown in the Progress Report area of the Concept Builder. You will notice that there is either a Yellow or a Red background for each question number. When starting up an activity, the background color is Yellow. Answering a "Yellow" question correctly earns you a star for that question number. However, answering it incorrectly turns the background color to Red. A question number with a Red background must be correctly answered twice (without a miss) in order to earn a star. 

 

Getting Help

You will notice that there is a Help Me button underneath the Progress Report. You should learn to use this feature of the program. It's how you can turn an exercise in answering questions into an exercise in learning. Tapping on the Help Me button will open a page with help that is specific to each question. Of course, the Help pages are only helpful if you read them. So take the time to read them. Each Help page contains four sections: a discussion of the The Basic Idea, a display of the Question that you are trying to answer, a section titled "How to Think About This Situation", and a set of links to resources in our Tutorial section. You should pay attention to the section titled How to Think About This Situation. You will find what you need to know in the two or three paragraphs of this section. You will also become a better Physics student for doing that. That is, after all, the goal of such an activity as Free Fall.
 
 

Thanks for being patient with the Directions. Happy learning!