IB DP Physics(2025)A.1.1 Distance & Displacement

Free IB DP Physics sample lesson(double) on distance and displacement: Topic A.1 Kinematics, SL and HL, first assessment 2025. Teaches scalar vs vector in full. This complete, no-cost lesson gives away a whole double period from the premium YPhysics IB DP Physics catalogue.

Nothing here is cut down or watermarked. It is a whole lesson, built to the same standard as every paid pack in the catalogue: definitions earned before they are used, worked examples that model exam discipline with units carried at every step, and question sets that hunt named misconceptions rather than reward pattern matching. If it suits your class, the paid packs that carry the topic forward (for example A.1 Speed and Velocity) are built the same way.

• Identify a quantity as a scalar or vector (explicitly taught). Distance (a scalar) against displacement (a vector) is the load-bearing distinction of the lesson, and a dedicated multiple-choice item tests it directly.

• Draw and label vectors (practised). Students draw position vectors from the origin, and the displacement arrow of a journey, onto the figures, labelling each with its symbol and direction.

• Add and subtract vectors in the same plane (practised). A marked challenge question composes two perpendicular displacement legs into a single resultant by Pythagoras, with its direction quoted as an angle.

• Apply and use SI prefixes and units (practised). Legs given in km and in m cannot be summed until the units match (2.0 km to 2000 m; 62.5 cm to 0.625 m), a conversion gate inside the working of marked parts.

• Calculate and interpret percentage uncertainty (practised). The data question takes the percentage uncertainty of a 25.0 cm reading whose uncertainty is 0.5 cm.

• Calculate mean and range (practised). Students find the mean and the half-range of seven repeated position readings.

• Propagate uncertainties (practised). Absolute uncertainties are added through the subtraction xf − xi to give the uncertainty in the displacement.

• Student Worksheet (15 pages): structured exposition, guided questions and fill-in blanks with the answers stripped; fully editable self-contained HTML plus colour and black-and-white PDF.

• Teacher Key (22 pages): the complete worksheet with every answer, solution and marking point filled in; colour and B&W PDF.

• Solutions (14 pages): worked solutions with every step shown and units carried throughout; colour and B&W PDF.

• Assessment (11 pages): a questions-only paper spanning the lesson’s questions, with IB mark allocations shown, ready for a timed block or homework; colour and B&W PDF.

• Lesson deck (43 slides): choreographed to the worksheet, with staged reveals for the definitions, the worked solutions and the exit-ticket questions; self-contained HTML plus colour and B&W PDF.