Thursday, February 26, 2009

Today we experimented with light. The students had four stations to complete with their group members.

In "station 1" the students studied a cardboard square, a wax square and a clear plastic square. Their job was to interpret how the light in the room was interacting with the objects. They should have been able to label the cardboard as opaque, the wax as translucent, and the clear plastic (transparency) as transparent.

In "station 2" the students were given a sheet with "mystery symbols" on it. Their job was to use the mirror in their materials bucket to figure out what the secret words were. The words were BOX and DECK. Many of the students went on to create their own mystery words, using the mirrors, for extra credit.

In "station 3" the students explored the behavior of light when traveling from the air, through water, and back out again. The laid a flashlight on the edge of the table, covered the tip with foil, and poked a hole in the foil to let the light shine through. The students then experimented with how the path of the light changed the closer/farther they got to the clear plastic cup with water. Then, the laid a blank, white piece of paper on the other side of the cup and observed how the path of light seemed to bend when coming out of the water. Hmmm....... I wonder why???

In "station 4" the students were given clear plastic CD cases, Thank you Dr. Murry, to use; along with three pictures. These pictures were of a lightbulb, a hand, and a monkey. The students were to illustrate a reflection of the image, without, looking at their paper, or the original picture. The results were fabulous!!! I have lots of pictures to share, and will be sending home permission notes to post a few of them!!!

In station 1, the students were to gather a basic understanding of the nature of light, and how it reacts to certain objects. In station 2, they had the opportunity to witness reflection and how it creates an opposite image. It is also a good tie in to symmetry, in Math, because if a letter is asymmetrical, it can not be used in a "secret message" In station 3, the groups were experimenting with refraction, and the fact that when light travels from one form of matter (air, to solid, to liquid, to solid, to air again) it will change direction (bend or break) and this is called refraction. Lastly, in station 4, the groups are revisiting the concept of reflection, and how objects can reflect (bounce back) an image, but in a "opposite" manner.

The materials had several additional materials the students could experiment with on their own, including the "bendable" mirrors, which act as convex and concave lenses; and a straw, that could have been used in conjunction with the water station, to further emphasize the refracting (bending) concept.

It was a great day!!!!