A problem-based approach to the teaching of mechanical wave propagation, focused on observation and measurement of wave properties in solids and on modelling of these properties, is presented. In particular, some experimental results, originally aimed at measuring the propagation speed of sound waves in metallic rods, are used in order to deepen the role of constraints in mechanical wave propagation. Interpretative models of the results obtained in the laboratory are built and implemented by using a well-known simulation environment. The simulation results are, then, compared with experimental data. The approach has been developed and experimented in the context of a workshop on mechanical wave propagation of the two-year Graduate Program for Physics Teacher Education at University of Palermo. (Contains 7 footnotes and 15 figures.)