I’m drafting a project/assessment/thing for the end of our winter trimester. It’s going in a spot traditionally reserved for a final exam. I’m hoping to get a little peer editing input after you’ve seen the assessment.

For context, my 9th grade students will have finished their studies of motion and forces. I’m planning to give them about a week to complete this assignment.

I’m asking them to “produce a complete model of everything we currently know about the physics of motion and forces AND apply that model to a movie or video clip.” Here’s the example I slapped together to illustrate what I’m looking for (note that it’s intentionally incomplete):

The assignment is below (I’m always happy to share the Google Doc, too, this was the easier way to embed):

the-model-so-far-motion-and-forces-1Download

Might you offer your feedback for me to improve the assignment? I have a few questions:

  1. Where do you think it’s important that the assignment land on the spectrum from “a complete model is presented” to “hit the high points”? In my example, it was tough to fit the full model of each of four units of study in such a small space (in fact, you may notice I gave up under forces). Before making the example, I definitely wanted students to produce full models in the brochure. After, I’m closer to “use the limited space wisely to express the high points.”
  2. What example questions might I share with students that can be answered via video analysis? We’ve done a small amount and I fear my expert mindset clouds my judgement.
  3. In what ways is this assessment/project/thing not going to show what students have learned about forces and motion? I really want to avoid reflecting cute-but-it-had-too-little-physics.

Thanks for reading! I hope you have a fabulous day.