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The students attempt to develop a graph that relates the angle of rotation of a fly and its height above the midline as it travels on the blade of a fan in a circular path. They begin by measuring the fly’s heights above the midline at several stops along the its circular path and plotting these heights on a graph.
Episode Supports
Students’ Conceptual Challenges
The students were asked to create a graph that relates the angle of rotation in radians, to the height above the midline in radii. They didn’t quite accomplish this, and instead made a graph that relates the stop number to the height in cm. Notice that the students are still productive and make more sense of how the angle of rotation and the height are related. In later episodes the students will build on this productive, but not quite correct, approach. This is a good example of how letting students explore in ways that make sense to them can be leveraged to help them reach your learning goals.
Focus Questions
For use in a classroom, pause the video and ask these questions:
[Pause the video at 2:19] What do you think Claire means when she says, “It’s going to be a wave graph”?
[Pause the video at 7:09] Take a moment to examine the graph Mary and Claire have drawn. In what ways do you see the height along the circle as the angle of rotation changes? Why do you think it makes an “S” shape?
Supporting Dialogue
[Pause the video at 0:49] Talk with a partner about how you each would accomplish this task, which asks you to create a graph to relate the angle of rotation to the height above or below the midline.
[Pause the video at 3:16] Tell a partner what you think about Claire’s description of steepness. Is there anything you would add or change?
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