4-PS4-1 Develop a model of waves to describe patterns in terms of amplitude and wavelength and that waves can cause objects to move.
Clarification Statement: Examples of models could include diagrams, analogies, and physical models using wire to illustrate wavelength and amplitude of waves.
Assessment Boundary: Assessment does not include interference effects, electromagnetic waves, non-periodic waves, or quantitative models of amplitude and wavelength.
This resource appears to be designed to build towards this performance expectation, though the resource developer has not explicitly stated so.
Comments about Including the Performance Expectation
To fully address the PE, students would need to be able to develop their own model, rather than following the teacher’s directions to make the model. This activity could help strengthen student understanding of the required vocabulary, providing the students the foundation to create their own model.
An interesting side effect of this activity is that students begin to understand that frequency and wavelength are inversely proportional. Although the vocabulary is not age appropriate, fourth grade students completing the activity may discover and discuss that if they take steps with a large amplitude, that they cannot take as many of steps in a given amount of time, but if they take steps with a small amplitude, that they can take many more steps in that same time period.