How an Airboat Changes Position and Direction

How an Airboat Changes Position and Direction: Grade 4 Science Worksheet

Does moving always mean turning? A Florida airboat ride shows that moving things always change position, but only sometimes change direction. Students read a short story about Maya’s airboat ride in the Everglades. The airboat leaves the dock, goes straight, turns around an island, and comes back, while a heron stays still. Then they answer circle questions about position and direction.

Key Science Vocabulary

• motion: moving from one place to another
• position: where something is
• direction: the way something is going
• straight: moving without turning
• airboat: a flat boat pushed by a big fan, used in the Everglades

What Students Do

• Read a short story about an Everglades airboat ride with two doodles
• Part A: three circle questions on position and moving
• Part B: three circle questions on direction
• Answer key with red reason lines

Standards

Florida SC.4.P.12.1: Recognize that an object in motion always changes its position and may change its direction. Builds on NGSS 3-PS2-2 (patterns of motion).

Where It Fits in Grades 3 to 8

Earlier grades describe how things move: straight, zigzag, round and round. Grade 4 separates change in position from change in direction. In grade 5 and middle school, this grows into speed, velocity, and forces that change motion.

Teaching Tip

Have a student walk straight across the room, then turn and walk back. Ask the class when the position changed and when the direction changed. Prints clearly in black and white and takes 8 to 10 minutes.