1. Motion & Patterns
Target: 3rd Grade

2. Content Topics Speed & Distance Acceleration Gravity Speed Gravity

3. Speed Distance = (rate)x(time)
Speed is defined as the distance traveled in some amount of time.
The distance an object travels depends on how fast it was moving (speed/rate), and how long (time) the object was in motion.
Distance = (rate)x(time)

4. The greater the speed, the more distance an object will move while it is in motion.
Car traveling 30 mph will travel 30 miles in 1 hour.
Sample Questions
How far will the car travel in 1 hour if the speedometer in the car reads 62 mph?
What distance will a car travel in ½ an hour if the speed is 30 mph?

6. Acceleration
Acceleration is a word used to describe a change in the object’s motion.
Anytime there is a change in motion, there is an acceleration.
Speeding up
Slowing down
Cornering

7. Questions
What do we call the acceleration, the change, when we are slowing down in a car? What causes the slow down?
What does it feel like when you are in a car that is moving on the freeway at 60 mph? Does it feel different if the car is still moving at 60 mph on a curved off-ramp? What is the change?

8. Acceleration Deceleration Velocity & Acceleration
Physics Classroom
Acceleration Deceleration Velocity & Acceleration

9. Image Credit: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/science/
Gravity
Every mass exerts a force called gravity.
Earth’s gravity is very strong compared to the many small masses around us, so we only notice the gravity of the Earth.
The force of gravity is directed toward the center of mass, so Earth’s gravity is toward the center of Earth which we call down.
Image Credit:

10. Marble Rolling Down a Ramp
When an object is at a height above level ground, the force of gravity will accelerate it downward.
The greater the height, the more time the object has to accelerate, to gain speed, which results in the object traveling farther along the level ground.
Height
Math
Art
Speed
Physics

11. Height & Pattern
Gravity is very consistent, resulting in patterns in data for objects that travel downward.
Distance Traveled
Trial 1
Trial 2
Trial 3
Height = 2 cm
0.35 meters
0.33 meters
Height = 4 cm
0.8 meters
0.82 meters
Height = 6 cm
1.25 meters
1.22 meters
1.23 meters

12. image courtesy of San Diego State University, Department of Natural Sciences

13. Gravity & Pattern 9.81 m/s/s 21.9 miles/hour/second
All objects are accelerated at the same rate.
9.81 m/s/s
21.9 miles/hour/second
A light marble and a heavy marble of equal diameter would exhibit the same motion.

14. NGSS Standard
3-PS2-2 Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.