Diagnostic · Kinematics & graphs
Motion Diagnostic
Maps what position, displacement, distance, velocity and acceleration actually mean to your students — from graph reading to turning points — and shows which misreading to address first.
IB DP · AP · A-Level · GCSE / IGCSE
2
Forms
54
Questions
~25 + 30–35
Minutes
18 + bridge
Bands
Run in classrooms at 7 schools · 7 countries · 3 continents
The wrong ideas are not ours. Physics education research has documented them since 1979 — Viennot · Trowbridge & McDermott · Hestenes · Maloney. Every diagnostic is built on them.
“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!”
Dr Tim Short — Physics Teacher, ACS International School Egham
Grade 11 IB · Motion Foundations, Forces & Free-Body Diagrams
What it maps
Two diagnostics. Run one — or both.
Motion Foundations
Position, displacement & velocity
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.
24 questions · 8 bands · ~25 min
Motion Change
Acceleration, turning points & motion diagrams
The second kinematics layer.
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.
30 questions · 10 bands + T1 bridge · ~30–35 min
A question from it
These aren't careless errors. They're systematic misconceptions.
Higher on the graph = faster?
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.
v = −5 m/s? "That must be a mistake."
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.
At the apex, what's the acceleration?
Throw a ball straight up. At its highest point, velocity is momentarily zero.
Same final speed = same acceleration?
Two cars start from rest and reach the same final speed. Car A takes 10 seconds; Car B takes 5 seconds.
How it runs
Shared link. No student logins.
Two diagnostics, each a single sitting — Foundations 24 questions in about 25 minutes, Change 30 questions in about 30–35 minutes. Run one, or both.
The report arrives within 48 hours of your class finishing.
Request
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No installs · no student logins · no charge
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Founding-department programme opens January 2027
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Thank you. We'll set up the diagnostic you selected and email you the link within 24 hours.
Grounded in Beichner, Trowbridge & McDermott, Arons, Knight and Chabay & Sherwood