Movement can cause useful and problematic consequences in physical systems
This Year 9 unit studies regular, repeating motion — oscillations — and the waves that carry it. Students measure frequency and period, investigate the swing of a pendulum, and explore how vibrations travel through different substances. The conceptual heart of the unit is resonance: how a system driven at its natural frequency can build up large oscillations, and how that can be both useful and destructive, from musical instruments to bridges that have to be engineered against it.
The key concept is systems, with related concepts of movement and consequences, in the global context of scientific and technical innovation. The unit's debatable question — whether the cost of building oscillation-proof structures is always worth it — gives students a genuine engineering trade-off to reason about.
The unit is assessed with a strong criterion D focus. Students complete a research project describing where resonance occurs and how engineers address it, discussing the implications of the science, applying scientific language effectively, and documenting their sources — the four strands of reflecting on the impacts of science.