Teacher Demonstration
Use the live model as a shared screen demonstration before students try their own predictions and observations.
Physics / Newtonian Mechanics
Ball Toss Out
Launch Ball Toss Out directly in Tracker Online, or download the TRZ video-analysis package for mechanics.
1. Watch or Launch
Launch the Interactive
Open the simulation, adjust the controls, and compare what changes on screen before answering the concept-check questions.
2. Big Ideas
Key idea Video analysis turns real motion into position-time, velocity-time, and acceleration evidence. The learning value is not the video alone, but the modelling choices: scale, origin, tracking points, and graph interpretation.
What Students Can Learn
- Calibrate distance and time before trusting the graph.
- Choose a consistent tracking point on the moving object.
- Use position-time and velocity-time graphs to describe motion.
- Treat scatter and fit quality as evidence of uncertainty.
Guiding Question
How do the tracked points and graphs support a claim about the object's motion?
3. Try the Investigation
Calibrate the Video
Set the scale and frame rate or time reference before reading graph values.
Choose the Track Point
Track the same point on the object in each frame to avoid introducing false motion.
Read the Graphs
Compare position-time and velocity-time patterns to decide whether motion is constant, accelerating, or changing direction.
Evaluate the Model
Look for scatter, missed frames, or outliers before writing the final motion description.
4. Teacher Notes
Lesson Use
Use Tracker resources as authentic data modelling tasks. Students should explain how the video became data, not only describe the motion qualitatively.
Discussion Prompts
Ask: Where is the origin? What point was tracked? Which graph gives the strongest evidence for acceleration? What uncertainty comes from the video?
Teaching Moves
Require a claim-evidence-reasoning response using a graph feature: slope, curvature, intercept, or scatter.
5. Concept Check
These questions are generated from the topic and the concept illustrated by the simulation. Use them after students have explored the model.
Concept Score
Correct first attempts build a streak and unlock higher point multipliers on this device.
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Answer each question once to build your streak.
1. What must be set before a Tracker video can give meaningful distances?
2. Why track the same point on the object?
3. What does the slope of a position-time graph represent?
4. What does a curved position-time graph often suggest?
5. What should students include in a Tracker conclusion?
7. Learning Pulse
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