Wave Reflection

How does the use and study of waves affect societal well-being?
Waves help society in many different ways, directly and indirectly. In my opinion, the waves in the electromagnetic spectrum help society the most, and have the most uses. X-rays can help us a lot for medicinal purposes, because they can help us scan our skeletal system, as well as tissues, with the help of a photographic plate. Another type of electromagnetic waves that are highly useful are radio waves. Without radio waves, we would not have television and radio, which would mean that we would not be able to get information as easily, and our forms of entertainment would be limited. Infrared rays are also very useful, because you can get very efficient infrared heaters. Infrared rays can also help us view the world around us differently, by using night vision, and thermography. Another type of wave that can help society a lot is the UV ray. Without UV rays, and sunlight, there would be no life. No plants would be able to grow, and without plants, animals wouldn't be able to survive, and neither could we. However, with the careful studying of UV rays, we have learned that too much exposure to them can lead to skin cancer, so to protect oursevles, we have created sun creams with different factors, that can help us from exposing ourselves to too much sunlight, and potentially dangerous rays.
We have also done a lot of research with water waves, which has helped the society protect itself from natural disasters, such as tsunamis. When people started experiencing tsunamis at first, they didn't know how they were made or what was causing them, so they started to believe that they were a supernatural occurance. However, as we started studting waves more, we learned more about seismic waves, as well as what they were, how they traveled, etc. With our knowledge, we could take precautionary measures to make sure that huge damage after a tsuanmi or an earthquake was prevented. An example of this is Japan. In Tokyo, houses are built to withstand earthquakes that have the magnitude up to 12 deegres on the Richter scale!
The last type of waves that we have learned about are sound waves. With sound waves, we can make music, and with the research we have done with sound waves, we can learn to make better and more efficient instruments. Music is very important in our society, because it is not only a form of entertainment, but it also shows what the culture of a country is like. With the research of sound waves, we have also learned about noise pollution, and how we can prevent people from being harmed because they are frequently exposed to sounds that can negatively affect them.

What did you learn during the unit?  (Looking at the picture you drew-how has your knowledge changed?)

I have learned a lot during this unit, as you can see in the bubbl reflection I made. In this unit I have learned about how waves travel, as well as that there are three main types of waves, and those are longitudinal, surface and transverse waves. I have also learned that waves are all around us, even though we might not see them, and we might not necessarily feel them/ When I created my drawing, I only knew about the waves that we can see, and the waves that were obvious to the human eye, such as waves in the ocean, and sun rays. In this unit, I have learned about the waves in the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as what are their uses, and how they can be dangerous. I would have never guessed that there are so many different types of waves, let alone uses! we have also learned about sound waves. In that part of the unit, I have learned about the Doppler effect, as well as about resonance, and how sound can diffract. Lastly, I have learned about seismic waves, and about why they happen, why they are caused, about different types of faults, etc.

What did you like?

There are many things i enjoyed in this unit. I really liked the debate, because it gave us the opportunity to look at things from a different perspective, and  view a subject from a totally different perspective. It also made us look deeper into the subject, and investigate about the effects, benefits and processes of irradiation. I also really liked doing the presentation about different waves of the electromagnetic spectrum, because that gave us the opportunity to work with people we haven't worked with before. I really liked that we could choose how we did the presentation, because we could be creative while researching and learning about an unfamiliar topic. One of the labs that I enjoyed was the lab we did with the strings, because it was unique, and different, and we got to listen, rather then observe what was happening.

What would you change or add for next year's grade 7 students? 

For the next year, I think that the students should do more debates, because I found the one we did especially fun, and it was probably one of the best parts of the whole unit. It gives a whole new learning experience, and it makes you dig deeper into the subject, and it gets you more itnerested.