Exploring Our Fluid Earth

Teaching Science as Inquiry

 

For more option use
    Advanced Search

Printer Friendly
Activity: Make Your Own Wave
NGSS Science and Engineering Practices
Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
NGSS Crosscutting Concepts
Scale, Proportion, and Quantity
NGSS Disciplinary Core Ideas
PS4.A: Wave Properties
Table of Contents
Activity: Make Your Own Wave

Materials

  • Table 4.2

 

ACTIVITY SHEET

Table 4.2. Wave worksheet; the horizontal line is the zero amplitude line.

 

Procedure

  1. Make your own wave using the blank wave worksheet (Table 4.2).
    1. Draw a wave.
    2. On your wave diagram, include a horizontal and vertical measurement scale in metric units (e.g., meters) along the X- and Y-axes of the worksheet.
       
  2. Write five problems about your wave and its properties for someone else to answer. See Question Set: Waves and Wave Properties for examples.
    1. Write a problem about wavelength or wave height.
    2. Write a problem about wave speed.
    3. Write a problem about wave period.
    4. Write a problem about wave frequency.
    5. Write a problem about the wave property of your choice.
       
  3. Create an answer key for your worksheet by answering the questions you wrote on a separate piece of paper.
     
  4. Trade your wave worksheet and problems with a partner.
    1. Solve the problems on your partner’s worksheet.
    2. Compare your answers to your partner’s answer key. Correct your answers as necessary.

 

Activity Questions
  1. Did creating your own wave worksheet and problems help improve your understanding of waves? Why or why not?
     
  2. How did your understanding of waves change when you received your partner’s worksheet?
Exploring Our Fluid Earth, a product of the Curriculum Research & Development Group (CRDG), College of Education. University of Hawaii, 2011. This document may be freely reproduced and distributed for non-profit educational purposes.