Become a Coastal Scientist with Freeform

Learning Intentions

Students investigate why water waves bend as they move from deep to shallow water. They use Freeform as a collaborative scientific sketchbook to observe, predict, annotate and explain wave refraction.

Students will:

• Observe and describe how wavefronts change direction in shallow water.
• Explain that wave speed decreases in shallow water while frequency remains constant.
• Use scientific diagrams and annotations to communicate their understanding.
• Collaborate by comparing and discussing ideas on a shared Freeform canvas.

Activity Overview

One of my favourite ways to introduce wave refraction is with a simple question that almost every student has experienced:

“Have you ever noticed that waves in the deep ocean travel in many directions, yet when they reach the beach they almost always become parallel to the shoreline? Why do they straighten out?”

Students immediately begin sharing experiences from holidays, beaches or videos they have seen online. Instead of providing the explanation, I invite them to investigate.

The Process

serve

Students first watch a short video showing waves approaching a beach from different directions.

Without discussing the answer, students individually record their first ideas directly into Freeform using Apple Pencil or the drawing tools.

I encourage students to sketch wavefronts rather than write long paragraphs. This keeps the focus on visual thinking.

Predict

Students draw how they think the waves will move once they reach shallow water.

Many students initially believe the waves simply “bounce” towards the beach, creating an excellent opportunity for discussion.

Investigate

Next, we perform a ripple tank experiment using a glass block to create a shallow region.

Students capture their own photograph of the ripple tank using iPad.

They immediately drag the image into Freeform.

Using different coloured pens, they:

• trace the original wavefronts
• draw the new wavefronts
• compare wavelengths before and after entering shallow water
• label where wave speed decreases
• identify where refraction occurs

Instead of copying diagrams from a textbook, every student creates annotations directly on authentic experimental evidence.

Explain

Students finish by adding short callouts answering three questions:

• Where did the wave slow down?
• Why did the wave bend?
• Why does the wavelength become shorter while frequency stays the same?

The completed Freeform board becomes both their investigation notes and their assessment evidence.

Reflection

I noticed that students became much more confident discussing wave behaviour because they were explaining their own diagrams rather than memorising textbook illustrations.

Having the ripple tank photograph inside Freeform transformed the activity into authentic scientific modelling. Students naturally zoomed in, highlighted observations and compared ideas with classmates, creating rich scientific conversations throughout the lesson.

This workflow could easily be adapted for other wave phenomena including diffraction, reflection, electromagnetic waves or seismic waves by simply replacing the investigation image while keeping the same collaborative Freeform structure.