Blow Me Away!

Learning Resource Type

Lesson Plan

Subject Area

Science

Grade(s)

Overview

This inquiry-based lesson allows students to explore how energy is transferred through a wave.

This lesson results from a collaboration between the Alabama State Department of Education and ASTA.

Science (2015) Grade(s): 4

SC15.4.6
Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength, and including that waves can cause objects to move.

Vocabulary

Patterns
Propagated
Waves
Wave amplitude
Wavelength
Net motion
Model
Relevant components
Peaks

Knowledge

Students know:

Waves can be described in terms of patterns of repeating amplitude and wavelength (e.g., in a water wave there is a repeating pattern of water being higher and then lower than the baseline level of the water).
Waves can cause an object to move.
The motion of objects varies with the amplitude and wavelength of the wave carrying it.
The patterns in the relationships between a wave passing, the net motion of the wave, and the motion of an object caused by the wave as it passes.
How waves may be initiated (e.g., by disturbing surface water or shaking a rope or spring).
The repeating pattern produced as a wave is propagated.
Waves, which are the regular patterns of motion, can be made in water by disturbing the surface. When waves move across the surface of deep water, the water goes up and down in place; there is no net motion in the direction of the wave except when the water meets a beach.
Waves of the same type can differ in amplitude (height of the wave) and wavelength (spacing between wave peaks).

Skills

Students are able to:

Develop a model to make sense of wave patterns that includes relevant components (i.e., waves, wave amplitude, wavelength, and motion of objects).
Describe patterns of wavelengths and amplitudes.
Describe how waves can cause objects to move.

Understanding

Students understand that:

There are similarities and differences in patterns underlying waves and use these patterns to describe simple relationships involving wave amplitude, wavelength, and the motion of an object.

Scientific and Engineering Practices

Developing and Using Models

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Primary Learning Objectives

Learning Target:

I can describe how waves can cause objects to move.

Procedures/Activities

Engage

Think/Pair/Share - Students will discuss the following questions:

Have you ever floated on an inner tube in a pool or lake? Do you always stay in the same spot? Why or why not?

Explore

Distribute materials to each group and the straws to the students.
The students will predict in their science notebook what they think will happen to the surface of the water when one student blows on the surface of the water from 6 inches away. Then they will predict what will happen to the surface of the water when two students blow at the same time from 6 inches away.
One student will video in slow motion as another student blows on the surface of the water from 6 inches away.
The students will answer the following questions in their science notebook:
- What happened to the surface of the water when one person blew air through the straw?
- What caused the water to move?
- What happened to the amplitude when more than one person blew air on the water?
- What happened to the wavelength when more than one person blew air on the water?
- What happened to the frequency when more than one person blew air on the water?

Explain

The teacher will lead a class discussion on how energy is transferred through waves using the questions the students answered in their science notebooks.

Elaborate

The students will repeat the above experiment using the slow motion videos but will add the ping pong ball to the surface of the water to see if energy can be transferred through the wave to make the ping pong ball move. They will do this with one person blowing air through a straw and then add a second person.

They will answer the following question in their science notebook:

Was energy transferred through the wave to make the ping pong ball move? If so, how do you know?

Evaluate

Ongoing teacher observation should be used as a formative assessment throughout the lesson and discussions.

Assessment Strategies

Students will create a simulation of placing a message in a bottle in a large body of water.

Students will place their wax bottle candy into a large pail of water and use their straws to create small and large waves around the bottle. The students will answer the following questions in their notebooks:

Describe how the waves made the bottle move.
What happened to the wavelengths of the waves as more/less wind was applied to the water? What happened to the bottle when more/less wind was applied?
How did the amplitude of the wave change as more wind was applied?

The answers given my the students in their science notebooks will be used as an assessment to ensure the standard has been met.

Acceleration

Provide students with a variety of objects that they could test using the procedures from the Elaborate portion of the lesson (bottle cap, styrofoam packing peanut, sponge, etc.).

Intervention

It may be helpful to preview the vocabulary that will come up in the lesson. Providing the terms on cards would help students to visualize the word as they hear you say it during the lesson (amplitude, wavelength, frequency).

Students may draw what they see happening in their notebooks instead of writing their answers for the discussion time.

Total Duration

31 to 60 Minutes

Background/Preparation

Students should have knowledge of the basic components of a wave and should know that energy can be transferred through waves.

Materials and Resources

Per group of four students:

water basin with about 3 inches of water
ping pong ball
wax bottle candy (for assessment)

Per student:

straw

Technology Resources Needed

Tablet with video capability for slow motion (one per group)

Approved Date

2016-07-18