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Graphing (by hand) Activity



In our Workshop Physical Science course for elementary ed majors, we find
that about half of the students (mostly freshmen and sophmores) come to the
course knowing how to graph, what slope means and the difference between
independent and dependent variables. One of the early activities in the
motion and modeling unit has the students take position vs. time data,
graph by hand, find the slope and decipher what the slope means. In a
group setting this activity generates considerable discussion and peer
interaction; this helps most of the weaker students "come up to speed".
This is followed eventually with a spreadsheet activity in which the
students have the computer do the graphing and then find the slope by
"brute force" modeling. The "graphing by hand" portion of the activity
seems to set the stage - i. e. provide relatively comfortable starting
point for what is to come.