The Moving Man Simulation

The Moving Man Simulation was an interesting way for me to explore how the position, velocity, and acceleration of an object all work when an object is in motion or at rest. When I left the man at rest all three lines on the graph would remain at 0. When I moved the man backwards towards the tree (-10) the Position graph would move to negative numbers and vice versa when moving in a positive direction. The Velocity graph would make spiked lines between 0 and -10 when moving in a negative direction and between 0 and 10 when moving positively. On the Acceleration graph the line would spike starting from a lower number to a higher number depending on the speed I was moving him while moving backwards, and from higher numbers to lower numbers when moving forward. It was neat seeing all three graphs move at the same time to show how position, velocity, and movement are affected depending on where you are at, in what direction you are moving, and your speed. This is a great learning activity to show students visually what position, acceleration, and velocity are doing when they themselves are in motion.