Mississippi Science PHS.6.8
The Standard
- PHS.6
- Students will explore the characteristics of waves.
Enrichment: Debate the particle/wave behavior of light.
2026 Mississippi College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science · Waves
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students use interference and diffraction to explain light's wave behavior. They use electron-release data to explain why light also acts as packets of energy called photons. They back up each explanation with evidence.
What Mastery Looks Like
- A student identifies alternating bright and dark bands as evidence of wave interference. They explain why dim violet light can eject electrons from a metal when bright red light cannot. At a fixed color, they know a brighter beam has more photons, not more energy per photon.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may think light must be either a wave or a particle in every test. They often mistake brightness for energy per photon. Some think individual photons cannot form an interference pattern over time.
How to Assess It
- Exit ticket: A bright red beam ejects no electrons from a metal, but a dim violet beam does. Explain why, then name one observation that supports light's wave behavior.
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Give pairs an LED and a diffraction grating; have them sketch the repeated light patterns they see through the grating.
Post an interference-pattern photo beside the red-versus-violet electron result; ask pairs what each observation tells them about light.
Deal cards labeled diffraction bands, interference stripes, red-light failure, and violet-light success; have teams sort them as wave or photon evidence.
Show a solar-cell diagram with a band-gap label; ask why below-gap infrared light cannot generate charge carriers at ordinary brightness.
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Printable PHS.6.8 Worksheet
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