Unit 2 · Light, Sound & Information
Driving question: How do we send and receive information across space? Across five lessons students build one connected model of waves — energy that travels, behaves differently in different materials, and can be encoded to carry a message reliably — then design a way to communicate across a real obstacle.
NGSS MS-PS4
Late fall
~5 weeks
Ends in a design performance task
The lessons
Week 1
What is actually moving when a wave travels?
Pond ripples and a bobbing leaf — waves carry energy, not matter; amplitude = energy.
MS-PS4-1 Week 2Why can you see through a window but not a wall?
Light reflected, absorbed, or transmitted — the material decides.
MS-PS4-2 Week 3Why is there no sound in space — but you still see the stars?
Sound needs a medium; light does not. Mechanical vs. electromagnetic waves.
MS-PS4-2 Week 4How does a photo survive the trip across the world?
Analog vs. digital — why digitized signals resist noise and arrive intact.
MS-PS4-3 Week 5 · Performance taskDesign a way to send a clear message across a distance
Synthesis + the summative design task, scored with a 3-dimensional rubric.
MS-PS4-3 (integrating PS4-1 · PS4-2)