A two-part diagnostic suite that maps the exact motion misconceptions your students carry — not just the wrong answers. Motion Foundations covers position, displacement, and velocity; Motion Change covers acceleration, turning points, motion diagrams, and the x/v/a graph chain. Heatmap delivered within 48 hours of class completion.
Standard assessments often miss the deeper conceptual errors that persist through kinematics — from how students read graphs to how they reason about acceleration when velocity is momentarily zero. These patterns appear across IB, AP, A-Level, and GCSE classrooms.
Show students a position–time graph with a curve that's high but flat. Many will say the object is moving fast — confusing position with velocity. The "hill illusion" is one of the most persistent graph-reading errors in kinematics.
A student computes a velocity and gets −5 m/s, and concludes the calculation must be wrong because "speed can't be negative." The negative sign isn't an error — it's information: the object is moving in the −x direction at 5 m/s. Sign discipline is one of the most persistent kinematics gaps.
Throw a ball straight up. At its highest point, velocity is momentarily zero. Ask students for the acceleration at that instant and many will answer zero — fusing v=0 with a=0. Gravity hasn't switched off; this is one of the most heavily documented misconceptions in kinematics.
Two cars start from rest and reach the same final speed. Car A takes 10 seconds; Car B takes 5 seconds. Many students conclude the accelerations are equal because the final speeds match. Correct answer: Car B's acceleration is twice as large. The Trowbridge–McDermott comparison error persists even after explicit instruction.
Motion Foundations and Motion Change cover the core conceptual kinematics surface taught at upper-secondary level and in introductory university mechanics. Each runs in a single sitting and produces its own self-contained heatmap and remediation toolkit. Pick the one that fits where your students are right now — or run both for the complete picture.
The foundational kinematics layer. Surfaces misconceptions about what position, displacement, distance, and velocity actually mean — before acceleration is even introduced.
Covers events and coordinate systems, position and displacement, distance vs displacement on out-and-back paths, average and instantaneous velocity, x–t graph reading, and estimation / unit-rate sense. Eight misconception bands E1–E8.
The second kinematics layer. Surfaces misconceptions about acceleration as a vector quantity, sign discipline, the position–velocity–acceleration graph chain, and limited 2D transfer.
Covers velocity vs signed component, acceleration as Δv/Δt, turning points (v=0, a≠0), sign of acceleration, the Trowbridge–McDermott comparison, motion diagrams, the x/v/a graph chain, constant-a regime validity, limited 2D transfer, problem boundaries, and one Newton-bridge item. 10 scored misconception bands M1–M10 plus T1 bridge.
Within 48 hours of your class completing the diagnostic, we send you a complete misconception analysis — actionable, teacher-readable, and ready to use in your next lesson. Each diagnostic you run produces its own self-contained set of materials.
Colour-coded class heatmap showing performance by question and by student performance band (A–D). Items grouped by misconception band so cluster patterns become visible at a glance.
Teacher-readable summary: which misconception clusters hit hardest, what they mean, and how your class distributes across performance bands.
Mistake Museum, Words That Hurt language guide, Remediation Worksheet, and Teacher Answer Key — mapped to the specific misconceptions your class triggered.
What each performance band (A–D) means for your students, with specific teacher action items — from "ready to extend" to "needs foundational rebuilding."
| Q# | Concept Tested | Overall | A (25–30) | B (19–24) | C (13–18) | D (0–12) | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Q01 | Speed vs signed component | 63% | 75% | 67% | 67% | 40% | M1 |
| Q02 | Direction from positions | 77% | 100% | 89% | 75% | 40% | M1 |
| Q08 | Bare-symbol notation | 70% | 100% | 78% | 75% | 20% | M1 |
| Q03 | Wall-bounce avg acceleration | 60% | 75% | 67% | 67% | 20% | M2 |
| Q07 | Negative-a speeding up | 60% | 100% | 78% | 50% | 20% | M2 |
| Q10 | Δv tail-to-tail direction | 47% | 100% | 56% | 42% | 0% | M2 |
| Q04 | Horizontal turning point | 67% | 50% | 89% | 75% | 20% | M3 |
| Q05 | Vertical turning point | 30% | 75% | 22% | 25% | 20% | M3 |
| Q21 | Turning-point sign reasoning | 60% | 50% | 89% | 67% | 0% | M3 |
| Q06 | Speeding up while moving −x | 50% | 100% | 89% | 25% | 0% | M4 |
| Q22 | Sign triple → scenario | 67% | 100% | 67% | 67% | 40% | M4 |
| Q09 | Two-ramps direct comparison | 33% | 100% | 44% | 17% | 0% | M5 |
| Q20 | Two x–t parabolas comparison | 27% | 75% | 22% | 25% | 0% | M5 |
| Q11 | Linear deceleration diagram | 53% | 50% | 67% | 50% | 40% | M6 |
| Q12 | Identify-the-error diagram | 67% | 75% | 56% | 83% | 40% | M6 |
| Q13 | Parabolic arc diagram | 63% | 100% | 67% | 75% | 0% | M6 |
| Q14 | S-curve constant speed | 50% | 100% | 56% | 50% | 0% | M6 |
| Q15 | Knight crossing-lines | 47% | 100% | 78% | 25% | 0% | M7 |
| Q16 | x–t to v–t | 57% | 100% | 78% | 33% | 40% | M7 |
| Q17 | Stacked-graph translation | 40% | 100% | 67% | 8% | 20% | M7 |
| Q18 | Arons abrupt-jumps | 37% | 50% | 56% | 25% | 20% | M7 |
| Q19 | v–t to x–t (area) | 63% | 100% | 89% | 42% | 40% | M7 |
| Q27 | Constant-a regime validity | 53% | 100% | 44% | 50% | 40% | M8 |
| Q28 | Free-fall sign convention | 60% | 50% | 78% | 67% | 20% | M8 |
| Q23 | Planet Exidor projectile | 37% | 50% | 56% | 33% | 0% | M9 |
| Q24 | Δv in circular motion | 37% | 100% | 44% | 25% | 0% | M9 |
| Q26 | Components: ice + south fan | 60% | 100% | 89% | 42% | 20% | M9 |
| Q29 | a–t graph → scenario | 63% | 100% | 89% | 58% | 0% | M10 |
| Q30 | “Final speed” interpretation | 53% | 75% | 56% | 50% | 40% | M10 |
| Q25 | Trampoline at maximum sag | 47% | 100% | 67% | 25% | 20% | T1 |
Q05, Q21 — Band M3 (Turning point, v=0, a≠0). The vertical-throw apex (Q05) and the turning-point sign reasoning item (Q21) both fall to 22–25% in Band B. The v = 0 → a = 0 fusion is the clearest weakness in this cohort and is not confined to lower-performing students. Students who reason correctly about acceleration in steady-motion contexts struggle when velocity is momentarily zero.
Q09, Q20 — Band M5 (Trowbridge–McDermott acceleration comparison). The direct comparison of two ramps (Q09) sits at 33% overall, with Band C at 17%. The two x–t curves with different curvature item (Q20) scores 27% overall. “Same final speed implies same acceleration” is a persistent misconception in upper-secondary kinematics, and the diagnostic surfaces it twice, in two different representations.
Q25 — Band T1 (Newton-bridge item). The trampoline-at-maximum-sag probe scores 47% overall, with Band D at 20%. T1 is reported separately, not as a scored misconception band: a class scoring weakly here is likely to carry the at-rest-instant misconception forward into the forces unit. Read T1 as a forward-looking signal for the next term, not as a current remediation target.
Red cells mark the highest-leverage targets. The T1 row (separated above) is a Newton-bridge item that surfaces at-rest-instant reasoning carrying over from kinematics into force diagrams; it is scored individually but never independently flagged. Your class heatmap is generated from your students' responses and delivered within 48 hours of class completion.
I carried out a pilot test of the Physics Misconceptions Diagnostics with my Grade 11 (lower 6th) International Baccalaureate classes, as part of their revision for end of year exams. The tests covered Motion Foundations, Forces and Free-Body Diagrams - topics that are fundamental to the IB course as well as A’ level courses.
The tests were all set up by FundaFirst - all I had to do was point the students to web links. The students found the questions easy to access and to carry out. The information that came back from FundaFirst was incredibly useful, identifying areas where the class and/or individuals were weaker. These areas would have been much harder to identify without the tests. FundaFirst then provided concrete examples of how to address the misconceptions, with work sheets targeting these areas.
I will not hesitate to use FundaFirst’s diagnostic testing with future cohorts!
Fill in the form below. Tell us which diagnostic fits your current unit — Foundations, Change, or both.
→You receive a diagnostic link and a short setup message you can paste directly to your students. No student logins needed.
→Share the link. Foundations takes about 25 minutes; Change takes about 30–35 minutes. Either can be in-class or take-home.
→Class heatmap, cohort summary, band profiles, and remediation toolkit emailed to you within 48 hours of class completion.
Share your details below and we'll set up the diagnostic link within 24 hours. No commitment — this is a free pilot designed for teacher use and classroom feedback.
The diagnostic is grounded in physics education research, including the work of Arons, Knight, Trowbridge & McDermott, Beichner, and Chabay & Sherwood. Our physics content has previously been licensed by Cengage.
The Motion suite is one of three FundaFirst diagnostics. Once your class has moved past kinematics, you can also run our Newton's Laws Diagnostic — six modular diagnostics covering Newton's laws, free-body diagrams, weight, and the third law — and our Energy Diagnostic, covering work, energy, conservation, the work-energy theorem, spring PE, and heat vs temperature. Same format, same 48-hour turnaround.
View the Newton's Laws Diagnostic → View the Energy Diagnostic →Further reading: Why Newton’s First Law Is Hard — a teacher-facing essay on why students believe motion needs a sustaining cause, and why the persistence of motion is so counterintuitive.