• Quick retrieval from earlier learning (Pitch and loudness). Students answer on mini whiteboards.
• Show answers together and note who needs support in the main task.

1. How can you make a guitar string play a higher note? (pluck it more softly / make it tighter or shorter / make it longer / make it looser) → make it tighter or shorterPrompt: Shorter, tighter strings vibrate faster.
2. Pitch and loudness: which statement is true? (Hitting a drum harder makes a higher note. / Sounds get quieter the further you are from the source. / Loud sounds always have a high pitch. / Longer strings make higher notes.) → Sounds get quieter the further you are from the source.Prompt: Pitch is about how fast; loudness is about how big.
3. Pitch and loudness: which statement is NOT true? (Bigger vibrations make louder sounds. / Humans can hear sounds from about 20 Hz to 20 000 Hz. / Pitch is how high or low a sound is. / Longer strings make higher notes.) → Longer strings make higher notes.Prompt: Think about a long, low cello string.

• Ask the class to make a wave with a rope or slinky and describe what moves and what doesn't.
• Share the objective: Parts of a wave. Read the success criteria together.

• Work through the example out loud, saying why you do each step, not just what you do.
• Example: 8 waves pass a point in 4 seconds. What is the frequency, in hertz (Hz)?
• Step 1: 8 ÷ 4 = 2
• Step 2: So the answer is: 2 Hz
• Answer: 2 Hz
• Pause after each step and ask a student to say what comes next.

• Do these together. Students try each step on whiteboards before you reveal it.
• Use the hints as prompts rather than giving the answer.

1. 30 waves pass a point in 10 seconds. What is the frequency, in hertz (Hz)? → 3 HzPrompt: Frequency is the number of waves per second.
2. Is this a transverse or a longitudinal wave: a slinky (spring) pushed and pulled along its length? (transverse / longitudinal) → longitudinalPrompt: Do the particles move up and down, or back and forth along the wave?

• Students work on the student sheet. Circulate and check the first two answers of every student early.
• Students who finish: write a question of their own for a partner, with the answer.

The 8 questions are on the student sheet below, with answers in the key.

• Two questions on their own. Sort answers into got it / nearly / not yet to plan the next lesson.

1. 40 waves pass a point in 4 seconds. What is the frequency, in hertz (Hz)? → 10 HzPrompt: Frequency is the number of waves per second.
2. Is this a transverse or a longitudinal wave: ultrasound? (transverse / longitudinal) → longitudinalPrompt: Do the particles move up and down, or back and forth along the wave?

Free online practice with hints and printable worksheets for this skill: eurekami.com/science/grade-6.