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  • Skate Park

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' description of the motion of an object. The probe uses the context of rolling down and up a hill to determine if students recognize when an object speeds up or…

  • NASCAR Racing

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to determine what students mean when they use words to describe motion, such as speed, velocity, and acceleration. The probe is designed to reveal students' initial meaning of the…

  • Roller Coaster Ride

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' meaning of words used to describe motion such as speed, velocity, and acceleration. The probe is designed to reveal students' initial qualitative meaning of…

  • Rolling Marbles

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about motion using marbles and ramps. The probe is designed to reveal students' thinking about the factors that affect the time it takes for a marble to…

  • Talking About Forces

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit beginning ideas about force. The probe is designed to reveal whether students generally identify forces as pushes and pulls.

  • Does It Have to Touch?

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit beginning ideas about types of forces. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize that forces can act both in direct contact with an object and at a…

  • A World Without Friction

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this probe is to examine students' ideas about an imaginary frictionless environment. The probe is designed to reveal students' ideas about the effect of friction on motion.

  • Rolling to a Stop

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas related to force, energy, and motion. The probe is designed to identify students who may think about force as being carried by an object, rather than as…

  • Riding in the Parade

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this probe is to elicit students' ideas about relative motion. The probe is designed to reveal whether students use Newton's first law of motion to predict where a person would land on a moving object if…

  • Spaceships

    Book Chapter |

    This probe is designed to elicit students' ideas about changing the direction of motion in the absence of air. Many students will have seen movies or television shows in which spaceships turn by banking or using wing…

  • Apple in a Plane

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about force related to the interaction between inanimate objects. The probe is designed to determine which forces students think act on an object at rest…

  • Ball on a String

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about Newton's first law in the context of circular motion. The probe is designed to determine whether students recognize that an object will move in a…

  • Why Things Fall

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about falling objects. The probe is designed to find out whether students recognize the role of mass and forces in understanding why heavy and light…

  • Finger Strength Contest

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about forces. The probe is designed to reveal whether students recognize a situation in which the force applied by one object on another is equal, but…

  • Equal and Opposite

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students' ideas about pairs of forces that fit Newton's third law. The probe is specifically designed to reveal whether students can identify third law force pairs as…

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