Travelling by car

Travelling by car

Pencil and paper
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about interpreting a line graph.

This graph shows car journeys for Rawiri and Lia.
Lia left Whakatāne at 9.00 a.m., and Rawiri left Auckland at the same time.
 
a)
i)     At what time did Lia arrive in Auckland? ___________ p.m.
 
ii)    How long did Rawiri take to get to Whakatāne? ___________ hours
 
b)
i)
 
ii)
At 11:30 a.m., did Lia increase or decrease her speed? ___________________
 
How can you tell this from the graph?
 
 
 
 
 
c)
What speed was Lia travelling at between 12 noon and 12:30 p.m.? ___________ km/h.
 
d)
i)     What was Rawiri's average speed for the whole journey? ___________ km/h.
 
ii)    What was Lia's average speed for the whole journey? ___________ km/h.
Task administration: 
This task is completed with pencil and paper only.
Level:
5
Curriculum info: 
Maths, Number and Algebra, Patterns and relationships
Keywords: 
graph interpretation, distance-time graphs, speed
Description of task: 
Students interpret a line graph showing the distance travelled and the time for two car journeys and answer questions about time, distance and speed.
Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Patterns and relationships, sets 6-7
within the Mathematics Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
 

Y10 (11/1999)

a)

i)
ii)

2
4

very easy
easy

b)

i)
ii)

Increase
Any 1 of:

•   The slope of the graph increases.
•   Her speed increases from 50 to 100 km/h.
[Accept other similar answers].

easy

c)

 

0

easy

d)

i)
ii)

75 [Accept 300 ÷ answer to a) ii) in hours]
60

moderate
moderate
Diagnostic and formative information: 

 

Common error

Likely calculation

Likely reason

a) ii)
d) i)

5
60


300 ÷ 5

Uses Jane's time rather than Tony's, or adds an extra hour to Tony's travel time.

d) ii)

50

300 ÷ 6

Adds 1 hour to Jane's travel time.