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Wave Gates at the Flamingo Learning Deck

Compare wave height and spacing in models, then use a zoo workshop's data to explain how water waves move two foam gates.

Grade 4ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to4-PS4-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer, Drawing

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students compare and draw wave models with different crest heights and spacing.
Students use observations and data to explain that water waves can move objects.
Students distinguish wave measurements from measurements of an object's movement.

How to use

Read the investigation together and identify the resting level on each model. Have students compare the models before studying the gate-motion graph.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

4-PS4-1

Model waves to describe patterns in their height and spacing and that waves can make objects move.

Preview

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Wave Gates at the Flamingo Learning Deck

Compare wave models and use evidence to explain how waves move objects.

1. Compare the Wave Models

Read the investigation. Use the models to answer the questions. Count spaces between grid lines, not the grid lines themselves.

Two Gates, Three Wave Patterns

At the zoo's flamingo learning deck, visitors investigate waves without entering an animal habitat. Educator Imani sets a long, shallow tray of water on a sturdy table. A small paddle makes waves at one end. At the other end, a flexible foam gate hangs from a support, with its lower edge in the water. The paddle does not touch the gate.

The group compares a wide gate and a narrow gate. Both are made from the same foam and have the same length and thickness. Imani tests one gate at a time in the same position. The tray, water depth, paddle position, and testing time stay the same. For a comparison between gates, she also keeps the wave pattern the same.

The three drawings below are simplified side-view models of the wave patterns. Their pointed tops stand for rounded wave crests. The grid uses model units, not centimeters. The horizontal level marked 4 is the resting water level in each model. Measure a crest's rise upward from that level. Measure spacing sideways from one crest to the next crest. These are different measurements: one describes how high a wave rises, and the other describes how far apart waves are.

Before each test, Imani waits for the water and gate to stop moving. She then makes wave pattern A, B, or C. As waves reach the gate, visitors watch it swing. They measure its farthest swing from its starting position in centimeters. The graph in Section 2 records those measurements. The drawings model the waves; the graph records the gates' movement.

Model A