Mississippi Science PHY.1.6
The Standard
- PHY.1
- Students will investigate and understand how to analyze and interpret data.
Design and mathematically/graphically analyze quantitative data to explore displacement, velocity, and acceleration of various objects. Use probe systems, video analysis, graphical analysis software, digital spreadsheets, and/or online simulations.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · One-Dimensional Motion
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students plan a test of an object moving along a straight line and collect position and time data with video or a sensor. They graph the data and calculate displacement, velocity, and acceleration.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student can use a position-time graph to find velocity and a velocity-time graph to find acceleration. They report values with units and use positive and negative signs to show direction.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may use total distance traveled as displacement, even when an object turns around. They may think negative velocity means an object is slowing down. Some read the height of a position-time graph, rather than its slope, as velocity.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A cart is at 0, 1, 4, and 9 meters at 0, 1, 2, and 3 seconds. Ask students to graph position against time, find displacement and each one-second average velocity, then estimate acceleration.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Roll a toy car down a ramp, film it, mark its position every 0.2 seconds, and graph the data in a spreadsheet.
Draw two straight position-time lines, one rising steeply and one falling gently; ask partners which car moves faster and why.
Give pairs four position-time graphs and four velocity-time graphs; have them match pairs and defend each match using slopes.
Use a bus timetable and a map of a straight route to calculate average velocity between stops; discuss why the timetable cannot show acceleration.
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Related Standards
- PHY.1.1
Investigate and analyze evidence gained through observation or experimental design regarding the one-dimensional (1-D) motion of objects. Design and conduct exp...
- PHS.5.2
Design and conduct an investigation to study the motion of an object using properties such as displacement, time of motion, velocity, and acceleration.
- PHY.1.7
Design different scenarios, and predict graph shapes for distance/time, velocity/time, and acceleration/time graphs.
- PHS.5.5
Design and construct an investigation using probe systems and/or online simulations to observe relationships between force, mass, and acceleration (F=ma).
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