Connect the Dots [Lab]

In this activity, students build a simple wave machine and observe wave propagation, reflection, and the factors that determine wave speed. This activity takes a bit of unusual prep work, and some parameters cannot be quantitatively controlled. But it's the only lab that students routinely captured photos and videos to post to their social media accounts.

I posted a "how-to" construction video to YouTube: Connecting the Dots.

This is an in-class, hands-on laboratory experiment. If there was a practical way to implement this activity in remote/distance/hybrid, I didn't figure it out. This is part of the classroom curriculum I developed for use with my high school physics students.

Connect the Dots [Lab] at Teachers Pay Teachers

Includes

Student document (print-friendly Google Docs file on Google Drive)

Answer key (with notes)

I wrote a Blog of Phyz post in 2011 upon my first in-class attempt at Connecting the Dots.