Clover Park School District
Physics Curriculum Guide 2013-2014
Timeline
Units 4
5 weeks
Established Goals
(Non-negotiable)
Washington State Content Science Standards
9-11 PS3D
Waves (including sound, seismic, light, and water waves)
transfer energy when they interact with matter. Waves
can have different wavelengths, frequencies, and
amplitudes, and travel at different speeds.
9-11 PS3E
Electromagnetic waves differ from physical waves
because they do not require a medium and they all travel
at the same speed in a vacuum. This is the maximum
speed that any object or wave can travel. Forms of
electromagnetic waves include X-rays, ultraviolet, visible
light, infrared, and radio.
Waves and Optics
Stage 1 – Desired Results
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to …
 Understand the properties of waves, how waves transfer energy and how this energy is transferred
or changed within a system.
 Understand how the properties of electromagnetic waves leads to the development of medical
technologies
Meaning
Understandings (Non-negotiable)
Students will understand that …
 Energy can be transmitted by sending waves
through a medium.
 Physical waves can be described by their
characteristics of frequency, wavelength,
amplitude, and speed.
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August 2013
The properties of waves lead to the pitch
and volume of sound waves and to the
wavelength and magnitude of water waves.
Regions of the electromagnetic spectrum
differ regarding wavelength, frequency, and
energy, and the technology can be applied in
different ways (e.g., infrared in heat lamps,
microwaves for heating foods, X-rays for
medical imaging).
Recommended Essential Questions
Students will keep considering …
 How does a wave transfer energy?
 What is the relationship between
wavelength and frequency?
 How do waves create the sounds that I hear
and the colors that I see?
 How can waves interfere with each other?
 Why does the police siren sound different
when it passes by me?
 What is light?
 Why do objects appear to be different
colors?
 How can we explain the colors in a rainbow?
 How do microscopes and telescopes work?
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Clover Park School District
Physics Curriculum Guide 2013-2014
Acquisition
Students will know …
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August 2013
That waves transfer energy without transferring matter.
The relationships between wave speed, wavelength and frequency
How the Doppler Effect uses frequency shift to explain the apparent
pitch change observed in both moving-source and moving-observer
cases.
The difference between transverse and longitudinal waves, and be
able to explain qualitatively why transverse waves can exhibit
polarization.
That the phenomenon of interference can be explained by the
principle of wave superposition.
That the physical property of a sound wave determines the way
that we perceive the pitch and loudness of that sound.
That sound is produced by a vibrating object.
That beat notes occur as a result of superposition of two sound
waves that are at slightly different frequencies.
That electromagnetic waves transport energy from a source to a
receiver and travel in a vacuum with the speed of light, c.
The names associated with electromagnetic radiation and be able
to arrange in order of increasing wavelength the following: visible
light of various colors, ultraviolet light, infrared light, radio waves,
x-rays, and gamma rays.
That light bends when it moves from one medium to another.
How concave, convex, and plane mirrors form images
Students will be skilled at …
• Sketching or identifying graphs that represent traveling waves and
determine the amplitude, wavelength and frequency of a wave from
such a graph.
• Describing how waves respond at boundaries between media in
terms of reflection, refraction and diffraction.
Instructional Materials
Textbook:
Physics by Serway &
Faughn, 2012
Common Labs:
(probeware when
appropriate)
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Hooke’s Law
Pendulum Periods
Speed of Sound
Resonance
Sound Waves and
Beats
Lights and Mirrors
Brightness of Light
Polarization of Light
Refraction
Converging Lenses
Diffraction
Double-Slit
Interference
Science Media and
journals
Web Animations
Discovery Education
Video/DVD
Modeling Materials
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Clover Park School District
Physics Curriculum Guide 2013-2014
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August 2013
Demonstrating how energy can be transmitted by sending waves
along a spring or rope and characterizing physical waves by
frequency, wavelength, amplitude, and speed.
Describing qualitatively what factors determine the speed of waves
on a string and the speed of sound.
Applying the inverse-square law, calculate the intensity of waves at
a given distance from a source of specified power and compares the
intensities at different distances from the source.
Providing solutions that demonstrate the relationships between the
frequency, wavelength and velocity of sound.
Applying the principle of superposition to traveling waves moving
in opposite directions, and describe how a standing wave
may be formed by superposition
Arranging in order of increasing wavelength the following: visible
light of various colors, ultraviolet light, infrared light, radio waves,
x-rays, and gamma rays.
Determining how the speed and wavelength of light change when
light passes from one medium into another.
Show on a diagram the directions of reflected and refracted rays.
Using Snell’s Law to relate the directions of the incident ray and
the refracted ray, and the indices of refraction of the media.
Illustrating the electromagnetic spectrum with a labeled diagram,
showing how regions of the spectrum differ regarding wavelength,
frequency, and energy
Locating by ray tracing the image of an object formed by a plane
mirror, and determine whether the image is real or virtual, upright
or inverted, enlarged or reduced in size.
Using the mirror equation to relate the object distance, image
distance and focal length for a lens, and determine the image size in
terms of the object size.
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