Change of State - Directions

 

How it Works:

Using the Change of State Concept Builder is quite simple. You will be presented with a verbal description of an object's motion and the free-body diagram associated with that motion is shown - on the left, labeled Current State. You will be asked how the force diagram would change if the state of motion changed to a new state of motion. That new state is described in words and you will have to select the free-body diagram associated with that change in the state of motion. The new free-body diagram can be selected from a choice of five options. These options can be viewed by tapping on the diagram on the right side of the screen, labeled New State. Continued tapping allows you to view all five options. You can cycle through the options more than once by tapping on the New State diagrams. Once you think you have found the free-body diagram that matches the new state of motion, tap on the Check Answer button. Your answer will be evaluated and your Progress Report will be updated. Your goal is to earn "Stars" and to complete one or more levels of difficulty. Stars are earned when you show success on a particular situation. Once you show success on all the graphs at a particular difficulty level, you will earn the trophy for that level.

 

Earning Stars

When you start up either level of difficulty, the number of situations for that level 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 a difficulty level, 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 Graph that you are trying to find a match for, 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 sectoin 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 Change of State.
 

Thanks for being patient with the Directions. Happy learning!