Exploring Our Fluid Earth

I did the wave tank activity with grades 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, & 8th grade at our private school on Oahu. We borrowed the wave tank from the UH TSIA program. First, we had to carry it 3 blocks from UH, inside our school and up to the third floor. Then, we had to fill it with water from a sink. It took a long, long time because although we had a 5 gallon container it was too heavy for the children to carry. So, we filled it with many hands and many trips back and forth using 1 gallon containers. When it was about 2/3 full we taped the rulers and paint stick down and made the end stable enough to hold the paddle. We borrowed a timer from the PE teacher and a rythmn maker from the Music Department. Next, we got large pieces of art paper from our Art room. (Thanks to all who contributed!) The kids decided that the waves didn't have to all be blue so we had each buddy team create a double sheeted strip of waves by dipping the colorful construction paper into the water at the highest and lowest part of the wave cycles. After about 50 keiki had completed their waves we outlined the wet wave mark and let them dry. The next day they labeled all the parts of a wave with sharpie pens and graphed their measurements. We started to put them up one taped to the next end to end in a horizontal wave around the Science Lab-- and then we noticed we had enough to make one very long continuous wave! I never saw that done before and I am so proud of my classes. Talk about linking an activity to Ocean Literacy Principle #1--very cool way to teach Ocean Science concepts to young learners. SURF'S UP Scientists!