This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team and is aligned to the NC Standards for 6th Grade Science.

This resources is an article that discusses volcano eruptions and the heat energy that is transferred from the lava to the surface of the earth.

This teaching guide is designed to introduce the concepts of waves and seismic waves that propagate within the Earth, and to provide ideas and suggestions for how to teach about seismic waves. The guide provides information on the types and properties of seismic waves and instructions for using some simple materials – especially the slinky – to effectively demonstrate characteristics of seismic waves and wave propagation. Most of the activities described in the guide are useful both as demonstrations for the teacher and as exploratory activities for students.

Students work in groups of 2 to create a sound room out of a collection of materials provided by the teacher and then selected by the students. Students will test their sound rooms periodically to determine if their structure has the ability to dampen or even completely eliminate a tone, or ringtone emitted from a cell phone that is turned to max. The goal is for students to rearrange and recombine materials until they have achieved sound cancellation, dampening the waves emitted from the cell phone to a degree that the tone is inaudible. The efficacy of the sound rooms will be checked by a decibel meter on an iPad or Android device (free app easily acquired in an app store). Students will check the decibel reading before their structure is placed over top of the cell phone and then after - comparing the drop in decibels. They will track their results on a document as they hopefully observe the efficiency of their structure improving over time and with each test. One important constraint, the students are limited by a budget. The materials will be “purchased” from an in class store utilizing “real world” pricing.

This article describes an indoor, game-type demonstration, incorporating physics (EM wave modulation), math (binary codes), space technology, and music to show how spacecraft put information into the radio signals they send back to Earth. The article was originally written for and published by the International Technology Education Association in its journal, The Technology Teacher. It is now archived on The Space Place Web site.

Through this series of simple hands-on activities, students will develop a basic understanding of the physical properties of waves. They will investigate and identify the "crest" and "trough" of sound, water, and light waves.

In this simple activity, learners explore ocean waves. To find out if water moves forward toward the shore, learners create waves in a simulated ocean (small aquarium tank of water). Learners compare how and where a cork moves before and after the waves. Learners discover that the cork moves in a circular motion. This resource also includes information about waves, crests, troughs, and wavelengths.

Sample Learning Goals
Make waves with water, sound, and light and see how they are related.
Design an experiment to measure the speed of the wave.
Create an interference pattern with two sources, and determine the ways to change the pattern.
Find points of constructive and destructive interference by eye and by using the detectors.
Put up a barrier to see how the waves move through one or two slits. What sort of pattern do the slits create? How can you change this pattern?
For light, predict the locations of the fringes that appear on the screen using d sin(θ) = mλ. Use the tape measure to verify your predictions.
Explain how the aperture geometry relates to the diffraction pattern.
Predict how changing the wavelength or aperture size affects the diffraction pattern.

This instructional video shows educators how to set up a wave machine using wooden kabob sticks, jelly candies, and duct tape. The video also demonstrates how the wave machine can then be used to illustrate various wave properties. Background content on waves and wave energy is also provided.

Make a copy of this Google Drawing and edit as needed. This game is for individual students, and allows them to choose which activities they want to try. Add your own School Net test code to the bottom right box.

Sample Learning Goals
Discuss wave properties using common vocabulary.
Predict the behavior of waves through varying medium and at reflective endpoints.

In this activity, students explain how an electromagnetic wave differs from a mechanical waves. They will also investigate the relationship between frequency and vibration rate.

Students study waves by assembling rubber bands, paper clips and washers into strings with various mass distributions to observe the effects on wave characteristics.

This lesson serves as an extension of a unit on waves that links the science of sound to the way that we hear. This lesson also investigates the role of hearing loss prevention as a way to improve public health. Students will wear earplugs while taking notes on vocabulary words, and then take a short vocabulary quiz as an exercise designed to show what it might be like to have hearing loss. Next, each student will generate a model of the process of hearing, and then complete a short group presentation on one of several hearing-related topics.

This is an encyclopedia entry for the term "mantle." The mantle is one of the three main layers of the Earth. Text for this entry is appropriate for the middle and high school grade levels. An accompanying image set provides graphics to add to a lecture on the layers of the Earth.