A physics project created by Redwood Coast Montessori
high school students (2019-20)

(Click on an image to watch the videos)

Guiding Question:  How can you visually represent waves (transverse or longitudinal) to make the invisible visible?

In Modeling Waves, secondary students learned what are the properties of waves and the electromagnetic spectrum. They completed various activities that allowed them to learn about how waves are transmitted, how they carry information, types and properties of waves, and how they carry energy. They completed calculations involving frequency, wavelength, and velocity of various waves and how they respond as they travel around and through different media. Students were introduced to an investigation of waves through an article from The New Yorker A Century of “Shrill”: How Bias in Technology Has Hurt Women’s Voices and a podcast from WNYC Studios titled How Radio Makes Female Voices Sound Shrill. Through the article, podcast, and in class calculations students discover that the origin of radio and AM radio frequencies has defined an optimal range or a preference has been set for certain “tones” of voices generally associated with average male frequencies. These investigations will set the context for how waves can be modeled, the invisible made visible.