Speed Compare
About This Worksheet
This worksheet helps seventh-grade students calculate unit rates for speed and then compare those rates across different situations. Students work with miles per hour and feet per minute in examples involving runners, cyclists, delivery vans, speedboats, hikers, trains, robots, and drones. After finding each speed, they answer comparison questions about which object moves faster and how much faster one speed is than another. This makes the activity more than a basic division page because students must use the unit rates they calculate to make decisions. It is a strong way to connect unit-rate computation with comparison and real-world reasoning.
What Students Practice
Students divide distance by time to find a speed in the correct units. Several problems include decimals and fractions of an hour or minute, so students must handle the arithmetic carefully. Once the speeds are found, students compare selected results, find differences between rates, and order several speeds from slowest to fastest. This gives them practice with computation, unit labels, comparison, and interpretation all in one worksheet. The final questions also encourage them to use their answers as data rather than treating each problem as separate.
Why This Matters
Speed is one of the clearest real-world examples of a unit rate. Students need to understand that miles per hour means the distance traveled in one hour, even if the original trip lasted more or less than exactly one hour. Comparing those rates helps them see why unit rates create a fair way to judge different situations. This same thinking is useful when comparing prices, work rates, production rates, and other proportional relationships. It also prepares students for later work with slope and constant rates of change.
Teaching Tips
Remind students that speed is found by dividing distance by time. Encourage them to write the units beside the division so they can see what the answer should represent. When fractions of an hour are involved, ask whether the final miles-per-hour rate should be larger or smaller than the original distance. After all the speeds are calculated, have students use those results directly for the comparison questions rather than recalculating. This helps them see the worksheet as one connected activity.
Curriculum Standards
This worksheet directly supports CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.1, which asks seventh-grade students to compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions and other quantities. It also supports CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.7.RP.A.2 by helping students compare constant rates within proportional relationships. The comparison questions strengthen reasoning about magnitude and differences between rates. The activity works well for independent practice, homework, intervention, or review during a Grade 7 ratios and proportions unit.