Wave Interactions with Matter Substitute Slideshow & Teacher Guide | Physical Science | Grades 6–8

This Substitute Slideshow & Teacher Guide gives grades 6–8 Middle School Physical Science students a ready-to-run, illustrated lesson on Wave Interactions with Matter, built around the driving question "How do boundary conditions dictate whether a wave reflects, refracts, diffracts, or absorbs?"

Slide topics: The Driving Question; Background Information; Law of Reflection and Specular Surfaces; Refraction and Changes in Wave Speed; Diffraction Around Edges and Slits; Material Absorption and Energy Dissipation; Iterative Engineering of Wave Barriers; Trivia Tidbits; The ‘So What?’; Key Takeaways.

What's inside: 11 student-facing slides followed by 12 teacher-guide slides (talking points and demo ideas for each content slide), so a substitute or co-teacher can deliver the lesson.

Resource type: Sub-Ready Slides (.pptx). Format: editable Microsoft PowerPoint deck, 23 slides.

Classroom use: sub plans, direct instruction, or a unit launch in a Middle School Physical Science course. Grades 6–8.

Format note: These files are delivered in Microsoft Office formats (Word and/or PowerPoint). If you open a worksheet that includes tables in Apple Pages or another non-Microsoft app, table formatting may not display correctly. For best results, use Microsoft Word or PowerPoint (or upload the file to Google Docs). If you run into any formatting issues, contact us and we can send a PDF version.