Same position means same speed. (discover)

Students have difficulty differentiating the concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration. This results in students assuming that two particles with identical positions (at an instant) have identical speeds, and similarly particles with identical velocities (at an instant) have identical accelerations.

Leading (following) particle moves at a faster (slower) speed. (discover)

Due to difficulties in differentiating the concepts of position, velocity, and acceleration, students tend to treat particle position as a direct indicator of particle speed. If one particle is positioned in front of another, they will assume that it is traveling at a faster speed.

Students plot position and velocity graphs as the path of the particle. (discover)

Students often display difficulty in graphing the motions of particles. They appear to lack the skill of dissociating the motion of the particle from the path that it is taking. Thus they redraw the path of the particle when asked to graph the particle's position or velocity versus time.