Yesterday, after a quick review of homework, we looked at a string vibrator and the different standing waves we could get on the string. The ability for students to touch it, and realize that it comes from constructive interference of wave on wave on wave on wave, was fun. Just playing with the string, touching the string, letting the kids try different frequencies, make the standing waves so much more real. I like that they get to experiment about when standing waves happen. Part of me wanted more set ups so more students would feel comfortable making their own hypotheses, and part of me was so happy to be there to guide the exploration and not let students get fooled by almost standing waves.
Today, we whiteboarded one quick question on the standing wave:
Then we used boomwhackers to play with two open ends and one open end/one closed end standing waves. I was so tired because I had a school event until 8:30 PM last night, and then we had to report for a staff meeting at 7:30 AM this morning, so I feel my whole schedule feels off these past two days.