Activity 1: A Tool for Inquiry
Measurement in Motion

What can I expect to get out of doing this activity?

chart
Measurement in Motion is a tool that allows users to define measurements on QuickTime ® movies, and then analyze them through the many built-in graphs, tables, and statistical tools. Measurement  includes over 40 movies, providing abundant opportunities for investigating the mathematics of real-world situations. Users can also add their own movies to create unique investigations for math and science curricula.

In this part of the activity you are going to read a bit about the Measurement in Motion in general. You will also do some simple experiments with the Measurement in Motion tool. You should already have downloaded the software. Your Site Coordinator can help you with this process.

You'll learn:

  • about the importance of the students defining the problem, not only solving it,
  • how other math and science teachers have used a tool like Measurement  in their classroom,
  • the mechanics of how to use the program.
    • how long will it take? 30 minutes for the reading.
    30 minutes for initial work with Measurement in Motion.
    Assignments:
    Readings
    1. First read the article Student-Created Inquiry with Measurement in Motion. Think about how students define problems in your classroom or do you define them and have the students solve them?"
    2. Read Chapter 1 (2 pages), Introducing Measurement in Motion, in your Teacher's Guide.
    Hands-On
    There are two ways to learn the tools in Measurement in Motion. You can follow the directions below referring to the MIM CD and manual, or view the moving images behind the links in the How do I? section, further down this page.

    Use the CD demo:

    1. Make sure the Measurement in Motion  application is loaded on your hard drive and the Measurement in Motion CD-ROM is in your machine.
    2. Click on Measurement Demo in the left hand corner of the dialog box showing resources on the CD-ROM.
    3. Go through the Demo step-by-step, each time asking for help to explain what to do and then performing the task on the sample movie.
    4. Refer to pages 10-12 of your Teacher's Guide or pages 13-29.
    Use the INTEC demo of Measurement tools:

    View the animations below by clicking on the links to find answers to these questions. Open Measurement in Motion on your computer. Try these operations yourself. MIM uses a "drag and drop" metaphor to link data between representations. Connecting the diamonds in the upper left hand corner of a frame moves data from one window to another.

    		Activity 1
    TO DO Checklist
    __ Print this page!

    1.Readings & Hands On
    __ Complete the reading assignment.
    __ View the Measurement Demo.

    2.Initial Thoughts
    __ Introduce yourself by replying to the Personal Introductions thread in the MIM Discussion area.
    __ Post your initial comments on Activity 1 and read some of the module-based discussion in the MIM Discussion area. Check out the Personal Introductions and Tech FAQ discussions there too.

    3.Local Study Group Meeting
    __ Attend LSG meeting where colleagues share their new "tools" for inquiry.

    4.Further Reflection
    __ Visit the MIM Discussion area to read more of the dialogue and post additional comments.


    Having learned the MIM interface, make your own measurements and display them in tables and graphs.

    How do I?

    Open a MIM visual data set View a TABLE made from data taken from the image.
    Explore links between the table and the video images. Make a graph from a visual data set.
    Define a new measurement and make a new set of measurements. Display a data table for new measurement.
    Display a graph from new measurement. View and overlay two graphs, add titles, and make a graph transparent.
    Change the color of a graph.