Asking the distributed mind

[redbird]

I'm trying to figure out what needs to be in one of the high school review/test prep books we're doing. Mostly it's going okay--sometimes frustrating, but I know what they want and can therefore figure out how to cover it. This is an exception.

The Illinois high school science standard says "Understand the reflection, refraction, diffraction, interference, and frame of reference properties of waves." All clear except for the last phrase.

My best guess is that they want students to know that the speed of light doesn't change depending on your frame of reference. Can anyone confirm that or show me that I'm on the wrong track here.

Googling isn't much help, it mostly gets me either odd question/discussion forums or sites connected to Illinois school, just quoting the wording of the standard.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

"Frame of reference" does not just refer to the speed of light, but to any kind of wave. Violin strings, water, springs, air... They probably want students to have at least some vague awareness of what's moving, and in what direction, and know the difference between transverse and longitudinal waves. I'm not sure if that's implied in the standard.

Of course, the big implication of frame of reference for waves is the Doppler effect. They *definitely* want students to understand the principles behind that, for both light and sound.