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4th grade · Science · Unit 7 of 11

Waves & Codes

Waves, amplitude, wavelength and sending patterns.

What your child practices

Practices how waves have amplitude and wavelength and can make objects move, and how patterns like codes, flashes and digital signals carry information.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 4-PS4-1; 4-PS4-3 · patterns in waves, and using patterns to transfer information

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Waves have high points (crests) and low points (troughs).
  2. Amplitude is a wave's height. Bigger waves carry more energy.
  3. Wavelength is the distance from one crest to the next.
  4. Patterns like Morse code or digital code can send information.

Example: Which ocean wave has more energy: one 1 m tall or one 3 m tall? The taller wave has a bigger amplitude. Bigger amplitude means more energy. Answer: the 3 m wave

Waves & Codes in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 7 of 11 in 4th grade Science, after Energy, Speed & Collisions and before Rocks, Layers & Erosion.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Braille uses patterns of…

    • sounds
    • raised dots
    • colors
    • smells

  2. Question 2

    The distance from one wave top to the next is the…

    • depth
    • amplitude
    • volume
    • wavelength

  3. Question 3

    A barcode is a pattern of…

    • smells
    • lines
    • tastes
    • sounds

  4. Question 4

    Waves made by dropping a pebble in a pond spread…

    • nowhere
    • outward in circles
    • into the pebble
    • straight up

  5. Question 5

    Sending a picture over the internet turns it into…

    • a rock
    • a digital code
    • water waves
    • a sound only

  6. Question 6

    Which pattern could a ship use at night to send a message to shore?

    • Waving a flag
    • Writing a note
    • Flashes of a light
    • Painting the hull

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