Wednesday, February 5, 2014

MS - PS4.A (B) - Modeling Waves through Various Mediums - FINAL (RC 3/3/2014)

Module: Modeling Waves through Various Mediums
DCI: PS4.A (B) A sound wave needs a medium through which it is transmitted.

PE: MS-PS4-2 Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.

[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on both light and mechanical waves. Examples of models could include drawings, simulations, and written descriptions.] [Assessment Boundary: Assessment is limited to qualitative applications pertaining to light and mechanical waves.]

The ideas in this standard are: 
- a sound wave needs a medium to travel through

This particular PE also aligns to the modules which are written specifically for EM waves, so any mention of light should not be included in this batch, we should stick strictly to sound and its properties.  

- Students have to know that sound can be reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.  It is not clear that they need to know that sound travels more efficiently through some materials than it does through others, so we will leave that out.   

- Because the PE is to develop a model, we might have students choose a description that best represents sound waves being transmitted through a material (scenarios maybe?). We can probably get away with a bell in a vacuum type question too.  (Why can't you hear the bell that's ringing inside a vacuum kind of thing.)

Possible Question Starters:
"Which of the following provides an example of sound waves being reflected?"
correct answer - a noise that produces an echo when it bounces off a distant wall
incorrect answer - water in a glass vibrates because of the sound of thunder

"Students place a ringing bell inside a jar and then pump all of the air out of the jar using a vacuum.  They observe that when all of the air leaves the jar, they can no longer hear the sound of the ringing bell.  <<We will need our own image>>


Which of the following best explains why the students can no longer hear the bell? 
correct answer - the air in the jar provided a medium for the sound to travel through 
incorrect answer - removing the air from the jar made the bell ring very softly

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