I pulled back quite a bit on the standard lab procedure and moved my lesson up the spectrum towards inquiry. Instead of directing the students to the textbook for a step-by-step science recipe, I presented the question (What are waves?) and gave them a medium for responding (a spring toy). I also presented the objectives for the week to direct their planning. The five groups in each class then worked together to dream up their own procedures.
Once students had their hands on the toys, I was able to see better just what they understood about waves and how to measure them. In most cases, waves always appear in sets, and those sets are best measured by number of waves per thirty-second interval.
In practical terms, if someone were to walk in to my classroom in the second half of each class today, they would have seen stretched springs bouncing up and down. I definitely knocked the rust off my slinky-detangling skills.
The groups each had a digital camera to show their discoveries with the slinkies, so we’ll see in their group presentations how close they actually got to understanding the reality of transverse and longitudinal waves.
In a jam-packed semester, I guess that’s what direct instruction is for.
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