This packet is everything a parent or guide needs to assess Unit 07 at home — learning targets, the answers that count as correct, the mastery rubric, calibration examples, and a clipboard score sheet. No multiple-choice test: the student shows mastery by making steady waves in a spring, measuring them, and explaining how sound and light behave as waves.
By the end of the Waves, Sound & Light unit, a student should be able to:
Six criteria, each judged Not yet / Approaching / Mastered (Page 3).
Make waves in a spring; measure wavelength and frequency, plus sound and light demos.
The student explains what a wave’s numbers mean (Page 4).
Measurements, the sound-and-light link, and the conclusion kept distinct.
You are making a decision, not adding up points. For each criterion, decide whether the work is Not yet, Approaching, or Mastered — the column language tells you which. A criterion counts as mastered only when the student can both make and measure the wave and explain what its numbers mean. A student carries three tokens per term; one token buys a re-do of one criterion on another day, so a single bad afternoon never sinks the unit.
Accept any answer in the synonyms column — they are pre-approved as equivalent. The third column flags the confusions that look close but are not yet, so you can coach precisely.
| Canonical answer | Accepted synonyms | Common confusion / discriminator |
|---|---|---|
| Describing a wave | ||
| Wavelength | length of one wave | Crest to crest; shorter wavelength goes with higher frequency |
| Frequency | waves per second | Controls pitch of sound; measured in hertz — not the same as amplitude |
| Amplitude | height of the wave | Controls loudness or brightness — not the pitch |
| Medium | stuff the wave moves through | The wave carries energy; the medium itself stays in place |
| Sound & light | ||
| Sound wave | vibration you hear | Higher frequency → higher pitch; bigger amplitude → louder |
| Light wave | visible light | Part of the electromagnetic spectrum; needs no medium |
| Electromagnetic spectrum | radio to gamma | Visible light is one small band; order by wavelength |
| Reflection | a wave bouncing back | Bounces off a surface; the angle in matches the angle out |
| Criterion | Not yet | Approaching | Mastered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wave parts: wavelength, frequency & amplitude | Cannot label the parts of a wave. | Names the parts but measures them wrong. | Measures wavelength, frequency, and amplitude and says what each one controls. |
| Waves carry energy | Thinks a wave carries matter along with it. | Says waves carry energy but cannot show it. | Explains that a wave moves energy through a medium while the medium itself stays in place. |
| Sound & light as waves | Treats sound and light as unrelated. | Calls both waves but cannot compare them. | Describes sound and light as waves and links pitch to frequency and loudness or brightness to amplitude. |
| The electromagnetic spectrum & reflection | Cannot place visible light among the other waves. | Names parts of the spectrum but not their order. | Orders the electromagnetic spectrum simply and predicts how a wave reflects off a surface. |
| Lab technique (waves in a spring) | Cannot make a steady wave in the spring. | Makes waves but cannot measure them consistently. | Produces steady waves in a spring, measures wavelength and frequency, and shows how they change together. |
| Integration (cross-domain) | Treats the science as isolated facts; makes no cross-domain connection. | Names a link to history, reading, or writing but cannot defend why it matters. | Connects the unit to its anchor across History · Reading · Writing (plus chosen electives) and defends why the connection matters. |
The split between Approaching and Mastered is frequency is not amplitude: shaking the spring faster changes the pitch idea, not the loudness idea. Ask “which number did you change — how fast, or how big — and what did you hear or see?”
Read these before you grade. They show what Mastered and Not yet actually sound like, plus the edge cases where you should coach rather than decide on the spot.
Student: ______________________________________ Date: _______________ Guide: _________________________
| # | Criterion | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wave parts: wavelength, frequency & amplitude | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 2 | Waves carry energy | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 3 | Sound & light as waves | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 4 | The electromagnetic spectrum & reflection | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 5 | Lab technique (waves in a spring) | NY / Appr / Mast | |
| 6 | Integration (cross-domain) | NY / Appr / Mast |
☐ No ☐ Yes — for criterion: __________ Tokens remaining: ☐ 3 ☐ 2 ☐ 1 ☐ 0
NY = Not yet · Appr = Approaching · Mast = Mastered · Unsure between two levels? Circle the lower one and note what a re-do would need.