To introduce (or review) the concept of average speed for physics students, there's nothing more fun than measuring the speed of toy cars!
Students are provided with a selection of toy cars and then asked to assess average speed of the vehicle. I highly recommend buying a few toys from your nearby "dollar store" - these toys often have strange behaviours and idiosyncrasies that make the task just a little more challenging!
Students are allowed to use any technique they wish, but some choose to use motion sensors to track the amount of ground their toys cover. Here's an example of some young women using a motion sensor to get real-time data from a RC car and a cute little truck (QuickTime);
Here's a better look at the motion sensor data produced in DataStudio;
So here's a great excuse to go toy shopping! Have fun!
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