How can we communicate unit plan boss.docx

How can we communicate.docx

1. Teacher(s) Subject group and
discipline
Sciences – Physics
Unit title7 How can we communicate? MYP year 5 Unit duration (hrs)11
Inquiry: Establishing the purpose of the unit
Key concept Related concepts Global context
RelationshipsMovement
Energy
Personal and cultural expression
Statement of inquiry
New global relationships have become possible as humanity has learned to communicate through energy as wave motion.
Inquiry questions
Factual— How do we measure a wave? What affects the speed of a wave? What is sound? What is light? What other kinds of wave are there? How
can we manipulate and control light waves?
Conceptual— How does wave motion differ from other kinds of motion? How do we experience different kinds of wave? Where is the kinetic energy
in wave motion? How can a wave carry information? How does our experience of waves affect the quality of our communication? How has
improved communication affected our world?
Debatable— To what extent have improved communications made the world a ‘global village’? What advantages and disadvantages might global
telecommunications bring?

2. Objectives Summative assessment
Outline of summative assessment task(s) including
assessment criteria:
Relationship between summative assessment task(s) and
statement of inquiry:
A: All strandsCriterion A: Knowing and understanding – Levelled summative
assessment problems
Analysing and exploring wave properties in multiple contexts
relating to the idea of communication through energy transfer
C: All strandsCriterion C: Processing and evaluating – Activity: There and
back again
Criterion C: Processing and evaluating – Activity: Manipulating
light
Wave motion is characterized as oscillatory and the meaning of
oscillation is explored experimentally.
The interaction of matter with light energy is explored to
elucidate laws of reflection and refraction, the application of
which are essential to communication systems.
D: All strandsCriterion D: Reflecting on the impacts of science – Activity: A
smaller world?
Giving students the opportunity to critically explore the idea
that we are a ‘global village’ and that this conception is a
consequence of the development of communications
technologies. The suggestion that they publish their articles
online and gather feedback via a blog makes the activity itself an
application of this concept and allows students to network out
to other MYP schools, giving this activity an Action/Service
Learning dimension.

3. Approaches to learning (ATL)
Critical-thinking skills:
practise observing carefully in order to recognize problems
gather and organize relevant information to formulate an argument
interpret data
evaluate evidence and arguments
draw reasonable conclusions and generalizations
Creative-thinking skills:
create novel solutions to authentic problems
make guesses, ask ‘what if’ questions and generate testable hypotheses
Communication skills:
use appropriate forms of writing for different purposes and audiences
use and interpret a range of discipline-specific terms and symbols
share ideas with multiple audiences using a variety of digital environments and media
Transfer skills:
make connections between subject groups and disciplines

4. Action: Teaching and learning through inquiry
Content Learning process
All students should:
Summarize the properties of oscillatory
motion around an equilibrium point
Describe longitudinal and transverse
wave motion
Describe a wave in terms of the key
dimensions of wavelength, frequency and
amplitude
Explain the speed of waves in terms of
the properties of media
Explain the subjective experience of
loudness and of pitch in terms of the
dimensions of a sound wave
Explain the subjective experience of
brightness and of colour in terms of the
dimensions of a light wave
Outline the principal regions of the
electromagnetic spectrum
Describe the communication of
information through modulation of wave
amplitude and frequency
Describe the phenomenon of reflection in
Learning experiences and teaching strategies
Activity: Observing sound makers (p. 115) and Activity: Observing wave motion (p. 117)
In pairs – these starter activities are intended to encourage observations of physical vibration with
the idea that vibrations are transmitted through a medium – air, slinky or water. These preliminary
observations may then be used to construct a hypothesis about transmission of energy via wave
motion, thus introducing this aspect of scientific method.
DYNAMIC LEARNING MY Sciences key skills – Good and bad hypotheses
DYNAMIC LEARNING Interactive activity: Wave properties
Activity: Up and down, to and fro, side to side (p. 117)
In pairs – modes of oscillation are further reinforced using online footage of earthquakes and
resonant oscillations in bridges. This also provides opportunity to develop further observation skills
as students analyse the footage in order to identify oscillation modes.
Activity: There and back again (pp. 118–119)
In pairs – this is a fairly standard experiment for the investigation into the properties of a pendulum;
while the lab setup is really too ‘standard’ for it to be meaningful as a designed investigation, it does
provide useful formative opportunities for identification of variables and design of procedure to
minimize error (particularly in observation). It can be used for summative assessment with Criterion
C since it requires linearization of the data to produce a gradient, which students can find and then
deduce a value for g through researching the time period equation:
T=2π√
l
g
Note that this equation is referred to in the end-of-chapter summative problems for Criterion A, so
it is worth prompting students to go and find the equation in context at this earlier stage. The

5. terms of wavefronts and a ray model
Describe the phenomenon of refraction in
terms of wavefronts and a ray model
Solve problems involving Snell’s law
relating refraction to wave speed
Some students could:
Outline the phenomena of interference
and resonance in terms of wave
superpositioning
Describe the phenomenon of diffraction
in terms of wavefronts and a ray model
experiment also provides for extension activities investigating other kinds of oscillatory system –
these could be used as full design investigations.
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: There and back again (student resource)
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: There and back again (teacher notes and assessment rubric)
DYNAMIC LEARNING MY Sciences key skills – Linearizing
Activity: Analysing wave speeds (p. 120)
Individually or in pairs – this is a calculation problem which can be used formatively to assess
Criterion A. The questions are effectively levelled – as indicated by the command terms in bold. In
questions 6 and 7 students are evaluating and comparing information derived earlier in the
problem, identifying assumptions made and explaining the significance of those assumptions. A full
response to these would access levels 7–8 in Criterion A.
Activity: Experiencing sound waves (p. 121)
In groups – the second part of the chapter deals with the subjective experience of waves in terms of
senses. This experiment relates the physical/measured properties introduced previously as
frequency and amplitude to the subjective qualities of pitch and volume. Experiment 2, ‘Audible
cut-off’, sometimes produces false positives, particularly as students think they can still hear higher
frequencies when they cannot. This effect is doubly difficult to verify when the teacher is somewhat
older than the students and so most probably is experiencing deterioration of high-frequency
sensitivity – something readily observable here! The solution to the false positive problem is simple:
conceal the on/off switch for the signal generator and turn the generator off when unsure whether
students can really hear those high frequencies (typically f > 20 kHz).
Activity: Manipulating light (pp. 127–128)
Individually or in pairs – this explores laws of reflection and refraction in one experiment.
Demonstrating these phenomena together, using a semi-circular prism, facilitates student
understanding of them both as two different aspects of wave behaviour – rather than
misunderstanding reflection to be a ‘special’ property of mirrored surfaces, for example. The
investigation again requires linearization of the data and this operation is quite complex since it
involves multiple stages by which students need to:

6. 1 linearize data for angles using the inverse sine function on a calculator or spreadsheet
2 research speed of light in air
3 take a gradient from the linearized graph, which enables them to work out the reciprocal for
speed of light in the medium.
Finally the investigation requires students to compare literature and experimental values in terms of
a percentage error.
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: Manipulating light (student resource)
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: Manipulating light (teacher notes and assessment rubric)
DYNAMIC LEARNING MY Sciences key skills – Linearizing
DYNAMIC LEARNING MY Sciences key skills – Calculating and estimating overall error
Activity: Seeing colours (p. 129)
Individually or in pairs – this activity is intended to give a kinaesthetic, laboratory application of the
idea of the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum and also to contextualize it in some real-life application
– i.e. the idea of filtering EM energy. Diffraction gratings tend to work rather better than prisms
since they produce a larger angular dispersion of the different wavelengths but a good quality
crown glass prism can also produce measurable dispersion, provided the source is sufficiently
intense and blackout is good. The advantage of using filters to select out different ‘colours’ is to
remove the subjectivity in deciding the point of transition between colours – for example, when
does red become orange? It also provides possible data to which the experimental measurements
can be compared – provided the manufacturer’s given bandwidths of the filters used are known.
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: Seeing colours (student resource)
DYNAMIC LEARNING Activity: Seeing colours (teacher notes and assessment rubric)
DYNAMIC LEARNING Interactive activity: Electromagnetic spectrum
Activity: A smaller world? (p. 130)
This gives students the opportunity to critically explore the idea that we are a ‘global village’ and
that this conception is a consequence of the development of communications technologies. The

7. suggestion that they publish their articles online and gather feedback via a blog makes the activity
itself an application of this concept and allows students to network out to other MYP schools, giving
this activity an Action/Service Learning dimension.
Activity: Waves of applause (p. 130)
This activity allows students to explore an alternative way to present learning in physics – through
performance – tying the learning into the global context as well as providing an opportunity for
Action/Service Learning.
Summative problems (pp. 131–132)
DYNAMIC LEARNING Solutions to summative problems
Formative assessment
Activity: Observing sound makers, Activity: Observing wave motion and Activity: Up and down, to
and fro, side to side
These activities are designed to develop critical observation skills and relate these to hypothesis
formation as a key science skill. As such, they provide some opportunity for formative assessment using
criterion C strand (ii).
Activity: There and back again
This provides opportunity for formative assessment with Criterion B, as students practise the skills of
hypothesis, variable selection and design – albeit in the context of a quite standard experiment (which
would make this unsuitable for summative assessment with Criterion B). The extension activities do
allow for full investigation and design.
Activity: Analysing wave speeds
The relationship between properties of a medium and the velocity of wave transfer – and thus the rate
of transfer of information (or effect) by the wave – is explored. This activity provides for formative
assessment in Criterion C.
Activity: Experiencing sound waves
This allows students to collect and present data on auditory response in interesting ways – the decibel

8. scale is also touched on and this could be further explored if students wanted to present audible range
comparisons with other creatures. (DYNAMIC LEARNING MY Sciences key skills – Decibels and
logarithm scales is available.) The activity provides for formative assessment using Criterion C.
Activity: Seeing colours
Wave properties are related to colour in a kinaesthetic and visual way, in the context of filter
bandwidth – a key concept in communications technologies. The activity provides for formative
assessment using Criterion C.
Differentiation
Task sheets for the experimental investigations provide scaffolding and writing frames to structure the
investigation and guide students through the experiment investigation cycle.
Problem-solving activities are levelled by command term and this allows for students to access all
problems at some level.
Key/access vocabulary is highlighted for English language learners.
There is a wide variety of learning styles in the activities in this chapter, including performing and visual
arts as an Action/Service Learning opportunity – so students can develop in a range of learning styles.
Resources
PowerPoint presentation: DYNAMIC LEARNING Building blocks presentation for Chapter 7
Online simulations and applets:
Pendulum wave animation –
https://youtu.be/kagmUH_pRP0
Water wave combined motion animation –
http://youtu.be/7yPTa8qi5X8

9. Useful activities on waves –
www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/iconwaves.html
Video excerpts and animations:
Pathe newsreel, Tacoma Narrows –
http://youtu.be/XggxeuFDaDU
Millennium Bridge –
http://youtu.be/eAXVa__XWZ8?list=PLeigAdrhq4rJxDIqXOBptKb0JN3EKxElq
San Francisco earthquake, 1989 –
http://youtu.be/Z7eABGpOHv8
Japan earthquake, 2011 –
http://youtu.be/xwyGCNn3-bw
Pendulum wave bowling ball demonstration –
https://youtu.be/YhMiuzyU1ag
String instrument oscillations: guitar, violin –
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L9AOPxhZwY
Endoscope singing vocal cords –
www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJedwz_r2Pc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XGds2GAvGQ
King of the swingers: photographer builds giant pendulum to make amazing art –
http://gu.com/p/4xce4