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In Science, the students were given an opportunity to use a slinky to perform an experiment that helped to model refraction and reflection of light. They had a ton of fun and we are not quite done yet. Do you have another ideas that you have used to help the students better understand this Science topic?
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Hi Amy,
I recently completed the Scipack for the Characteristics of Light which included the Science Object on the Nature of Light. It had a lot of great information that helped to guide student learning (including my own!). I also purchased several resources online including NSTA Uncovering Student Ideas in Science. This book has formative assessment probes which help to uncover student thinking (and misconceptions). I plan to introduce the first probe next week and I will post an update soon thereafter. I also found very practical lessons on the AIMS Education Foundation website. I downloaded lessons for reflection, refraction and absorbtion from "Rays Reflections" and "Energy Explorations". My 5th graders enjoyed the experiments and made personal connections to real life applications as they learned about light. Hope this helps you! Gail
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You might be interested in the Picture Perfect Science Lessons book chapter on reflecting and refracting using mirrors, Amy. It is called 'Mirror, Mirror'.
I love how the authors incorporate reading.
Carolyn
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Amy, a resource I absolutely love is Bill Robertson’s “Stop Faking It! Light” http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9780873552158 which is available in the NSTA store. Dr. Robertson does an excellent job of explaining the Science as well as providing wonderful activities that transcend all grade levels and can be modified to work with all students.
You can read a sample chapter at http://learningcenter.nsta.org/files/PB169X3web.pdf . I love his series of books, but definitely appreciate how he makes the Science understandable and the cartoons make the reading pleasant.
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Hi Amy!
I posted this on another forum and thought I should also update you since I referred to it on a previous post:
This is an update of the "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science Probe" that I purchased from the NSTA store. I used one of the probes dealing with concepts of light: Can it Reflect Light? This probe lists a variety of objects such as water, a rock, mirror, sand, crumpled paper, rusty nail, etc. Students then identified which ones reflected light. Students also explained their thinking and tried to find a "rule" for reflecting light. While this "probe" lived up to its name and I discovered the thought processes and misconceptions of my students, I especially enjoyed the discussions that the probe generated. As students agreed (and more often disagreed) with each other about which objects reflected light, I believe the animated "arguments" defending their ideas helped to clarify their thinking. The "I wonder" questions that ensued from the discussions were a segway to the investigation that followed. I think students were able to make insightful connections because the "probe" caused them to pause, reflect and question their belief about how objects reflect light.
Amy, the investigation that followed this probe was from AIMS Ray's Reflections that I also recommended to you. Hope this helps you and your students!
Gail
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While reading these neat posts on studying light reflection and especially refraction in science classrooms, I wanted to share how much my students learned by using strong colored pen lights and Knox blocks to study refraction. And of course, I always made sufficient so that each student had a block to munch on after doing the inquiry.
Knox blocks are just rectangles of jello that allow students to see the rays of light as they hit the boundary of the straight face of jello and air change direction and bend toward the normal or enter this new substance with a higher index of refraction by bending so that the angle of refraction is smaller than the incident angle in air. And the opposite can also be seen if the light beam is strong enough and the light ray can be seen as it emerges from the other parallel side of the rectangle. here students can see andmost importantly measure the angle of refraction in the air and see that it is larger than the internal angle of reflection.
If you get a straight sided clear glass backing tray and use a small pen laser light, you can easily demonstrate total internal reflection.
I just followed the recipe for Knox Blox on the package but in just googling, this recipe is found:
http://www.food.com/recipe/knox-blocks-281669
I'll put a bit more on Edible Optics in a new thread.
http://www.food.com/recipe/knox-blocks-281669
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