Browse All Standards

High School

Waves and Their Applications in Technologies for Information Transfer

 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations
 

 

Communicate technical information about about how some technological devices use the principles of wave behavior and wave interactions with matter to transmit and capture information and energy. HS-PS4-5

Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

Clarification Statement: Examples could include solar cells capturing light and converting it to electricity; medical imaging; and communications technology.

Assessment Boundary: Assessments are limited to qualitative information. Assessments do not include band theory.

Science and Engineering Practices

Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information in 9–12 builds on K–8 experiences and progresses to evaluating the validity and reliability of the claims, methods, and designs.

Communicate technical information or ideas (e.g. about phenomena and/or the process of development and the design and performance of a proposed process or system) in multiple formats (including orally, graphically, textually, and mathematically). (HS-PS4-5)

Disciplinary Core Ideas

PS3.D:  Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life

Solar cells are human-made devices that likewise capture the sun’s energy and produce electrical energy. (HS-PS4-5)

PS4.A:  Wave Properties

Information can be digitized (e.g., a picture stored as the values of an array of pixels); in this form, it can be stored reliably in computer memory and sent over long distances as a series of wave pulses. (HS-PS4-5)

PS4.B:  Electromagnetic Radiation

Photoelectric materials emit electrons when they absorb light of a high-enough frequency. (HS-PS4-5)

PS4.C:  Information Technologies and Instrumentation

Multiple technologies based on the understanding of waves and their interactions with matter are part of everyday experiences in the modern world (e.g., medical imaging, communications, scanners) and in scientific research. They are essential tools for producing, transmitting, and capturing signals and for storing and interpreting the information contained in them. (HS-PS4-5)

Crosscutting Concepts

Cause and Effect

Systems can be designed to cause a desired effect. (HS-PS4-5)

Connections to Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science

Influence of Science, Engineering, and Technology on Society and the Natural World

Modern civilization depends on major technological systems. (HS-PS4-5)

Interdependence of Science, Engineering, and Technology

Science and engineering complement each other in the cycle known as research and development (R&D). (HS-PS4-5)

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy
  • WHST.9-12.2 - Write informative/explanatory texts, including the narration of historical events, scientific procedures/ experiments, or technical processes. (HS-PS4-5)