Position, Velocity, and Acceleration

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The students simultaneously looked at position, velocity, and acceleration graphs. They used what they already knew about position and velocity graphs to interpret what was happening with the acceleration graphs. Although acceleration was a much harder concept to grasp, I think the students did very well. Towards the end of the class, the students were asked to explain what they found out. All of the students were hesitant because they did not feel concrete with their understandings, but they discussed anyways. I thought it was interesting that when students do not understand something, some of them shut down and do not want to think about it or try to figure it out anymore, whereas other students keep throwing ideas around in their heads until concrete facts are understood. I think a good balance between confusion and perseverance to find the answers is necessary to achieve optimal benefits from the inquiry approach.