• BOS: http://syllabus.bostes.nsw.edu.au/science/science-k10/content/974/
• WPS: Teaching context proposed by WPS teachers: Catchy name???

• Use scientific knowledge about the transfer of light to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives.

Light from a source forms shadows and can be absorbed, reflected and refracted.

1. STUDENTS classify materials as transparent, opaque or translucent, based on whether light passes through them, is absorbed, reflected or scattered
2. STUDENTS observe and describe how the absorption of light by materials and objects forms shadows, eg building shading
3. STUDENTS gather evidence to support their predictions about how light travels and is reflected CCT
4. STUDENTS research, using secondary sources to gather information about science understandings, discoveries and/or inventions that depend on the reflection and refraction of light and how these are used to solve problems that directly affect people's lives, eg mirrors, magnifiers, spectacles and prisms

Please also see: Assessment Rubric

PLEASE READ AND VIEW THE FLIPPED CLASSROOM RESOURCES HERE BEFORE CONTINUING

Light is what's called an “electromagnetic wave”, just like radio waves, microwaves, X-ray waves, etc. Electromagnetic waves typically start when an electric charge jiggles back and forth.

Depending on the “frequency” of the electromagnetic wave (on how scrunched together the peaks in the wave are), you get different kinds of waves.

For example, radio waves have a low frequency - that is, the peaks in a radio wave are quite a long way apart and they are not visible to humans).

Next come:

• microwaves (with peaks closer together),
• infrared light.
• visible light spectrum (i.e. the different colours of light that people can see)
• ultraviolet light
• x-rays
• gamma rays (higher frequency still - the peaks are still closer together).

Sometimes you'll hear that light is made of photons. What that means is that when light is absorbed or emitted, the energy in the wave comes in lumps rather than waves.

The size of those lumps (or 'quanta') of energy depends on the frequency. The higher the frequency the more energy per photon.

As light interacts with the things around us, its properties can be become altered. By studying these changes, we can find out a lot about light and the objects that it interacts with.

For example, through the study of light we can discover what stars are made of, watch the processes that occur in living cells, and even look back in time to see things as they happened millions of years ago.

The human body has a variety of ways (senses) to detect energy.

• Your ears perceive certain frequencies of longitudinal waves as sound.
• Your skin, mouth and tongue can perceive thermal energy as hot or cold.
• Your eyes perceive certain frequencies of electromagnetic waves as light.

Using technology, we can now 'see' things that would normally be invisible to us.

One amazing thing is that the human body can detect the wavelength of visible light by the colour that it appears to be.

What a magnificent energy sensing instrument the human body is!

Don't worry if it still seems a bit complicated or confusing - Light, is difficult to understand:

• IF UNABLE TO ACCESS YOUTUBE VIDEO (requires Flash) TRY:Light - What do blind people see

Being a good light detective is as much about how we see as what we see.

1. Test using light to classify materials as transparent, opaque or translucent, based on whether light passes through them, is absorbed, reflected or scattered

- Observe and describe how the absorption of light by materials and objects forms shadows and how the effect of the relative positions of the light source and the object affect the shadow.

- Perform experiments to gather evidence about how light travels and is reflected.

- Refer to existing research and identify how the properties of light are used to solve problems that directly affect people's lives

- Apply our new scientific knowledge about the absorption and reflection of light to solve problems that directly affect people’s lives.

In your class/group discussions, describe some everyday situations where, how and why people, plants and animals use light and shadow.

Complete the on-line interactive tasks to predict, observe and record the effects of shining light on a variety of everyday objects.

1. Light & Dark - Light & Dark: Drag different things into the centre of a dark room:

2. Light & Shadows - Drag different things into the path of the light:

3. How We See Things - Drag different angled mirrors into the path of the light:

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<param name="flashvars" value="configXMLLocation=http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks2/science/sja_live/sja_7/config.xml" />
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
<param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" />

4.0 BBC Light Adventures

BBC - Rani is trapped in the Spellman's Circus Hall of Mirrors! Use your knowledge of light to guide her to safety

The purpose of this simple experiment is for students to determine the relationship between distance, shape and position of shadows when light falls on opaque objects.

Students will use a torch and cardboard cut-out's to discover more about light and shadows:

• IF UNABLE TO ACCESS YOUTUBE VIDEO (requires Flash) TRY:|Light & Shadows

• IF UNABLE TO ACCESS YOUTUBE VIDEO (requires Flash) TRY:How shadows are formed)

• Why do you think that the shadow has an 'umbra' and a 'penumbra'
• Why was the shadow sharper when the screen was close to the light?

3. Think of examples of things that depend on light from the sun

Two on-line colour mixing interactives are shown below:

In one interactive, you mix coloured lights, and on the other, mix coloured shadows.

Fig 1. Mixing Red, Green and Blue (RGB) Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fig 1. Mixing Coloured Shadows

When you turn different combinations of lights on and off, what changes?

In the colour shadow interactive, learners explore how coloured lights become blocked and result in the formation of a “color shadow” on the screen located behind the person.

Three different lights can be turned on and off, resulting in various coloured shadows on the screen behind the person.This demonstrates both colour subtraction (the person blocks or takes away some of the incident light) and colour addition (the incident light that reaches the screen combines together to produce a different color).

Furthermore, the interaction of the incident light with the person's clothes reveals the colour of the clothes under different lighting conditions.

If you are able, we recommend preceding the use of this Interactive with a demonstration of the same phenomenon. The demonstration will require that you have three coloured spotlights available to project upon you and a screen behind you upon which the coloured shadows can be cast. Begin with one light at a time and get students to understand the “geometry of shadow formation.” A light placed to the left side of you will cast a shadow on the screen on the right side of you. One your understand the geometry of shadow formation, begin experimenting with various combinations of two coloured lights.

Once you've done the demonstration, allow students to explore the physics of shadow formation with this Interactive.

Related resources:

• http://http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/light
• http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Physics-Interactives/Light-and-Color/Colored-Shadows
• http://www.exploratorium.edu/snacks/colored-shadows

Explain the importance and consequences of light from the sun.

3. Think of examples of things that create light:

What other interesting questions can you think of about light?

Most people know where light comes from. It comes from the sun, from light bulbs, from televisions…. but why it comes from these objects is a mystery to many.

No matter what the source, light is generally produced via the same mechanism: electrons changing their orbits around nuclei.

It takes energy to move an electron away from a positively charged nucleus, to overcome the great electrostatic attraction between them. Similarly, moving an electron closer to a nucleus actually gives off energy.

Light is just energy and thus light can be given off in this process. This process, by the way, is called radiation. ¹⁾

This type of 'radiation' is not the same thing as the stuff that will kill you, but it's very similar:

Color Wheel Illusion Newton's Disc Easy to Make ~ Incredible Science

Video 1. Eureka - Light Radiation & Spectrum

• IF YOUTUBE FAILS, TRY VIEWPURE:Eureka - Light Radiation & Spectrum

• Disappearing colour wheel: http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/disappearing-color-wheel/
• Flourescence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcssdJf0pKQ
• Optics for kids:http://www.optics4kids.org/home/content/classroom-activities/
• The Optical Society: http://www.optics4kids.org/home/content/classroom-activities/easy/mirror,-mirror-on-the-wall-angles-of-reflection/

Students will observe, describe and compare materials using the naked eye and one or more instruments such as a 'thermographic' (infrared) webcam, microscope or similar.

A thermographic camera (also called an infrared camera or thermal imaging camera) is a device that forms an image using infrared radiation compared with a standard webcam/camera, which forms an image using visible light.

• IF UNABLE TO ACCESS YOUTUBE VIDEO (requires Flash) TRY:How snakes see using 'invisible' light (infrared)

Have the above experiments changed the way you think about 'visible' and 'invisible' light?

1. I visited museums and/or sites on the Internet like
   • Steve Spangler Science
   • Europen Journal for Science Teachers
   • K-6 Science Lessons

1. I found out about the modern science of heat compared with old/traditional ideas about heat.

using Google sheets or similar).

1. I asked people to fill in 'My Count The Moles Survey', including their age and occupation, to find out if the number of moles a person has varies with age or occupation.
2. I performed experiments then analysed and discussed the results.
3. I created a survey (data organised in rows + columns on a sheet of paper or an on-line survey
4. I used a maths formula/software that I found on the Internet to compare/graph my results.

Scientific knowledge about the effects of light is used by people in their everyday life, eg the colour of clothes worn, the packaging and preparation of food and everyday devices, eg signs, building materials and packaging.

Video 2. Gummy Bears - Light Reflection, Transmission & Absorption

• IF YOUTUBE FAILS, TRY VIEWPURE:Gummy Bears - Light Transmission, Reflection & Absorption

Create a simple survey to find out what people think about their favourite colour for different objects.

Discuss the results of your 'Properties of Materials Survey' results in the section below.

My results for Table 1 (above) show that most adults and students (66%) prefer blue on packaging and yellow on signs and think that bananas are yellow.

This confirms the misconceptions that most people may have (as described in Video 1. above).

*All data from Table 1 was evaluated and graphed using Google Sheets formulas.

The principle of science, the definition, almost, is the following:

When we say we are a pile of atoms, we do not mean we are merely a pile of atoms, because a pile of atoms which is not repeated from one to the other might well have the possibilities which you see before you in the mirror.

Source: http://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_01.html

Research around the world indicates that at the end of their schooling, large numbers of students still hold many ideas, or conceptions, which are not in accord with the way that scientists understand our world. Here are some guidelines for teaching science at school.

A good scientific guide for students: investigating light

The scientific method is one particular way to ask and answer scientific questions by making observations and doing experiments. Some people argue that there is no such thing as 'The Scientific Method' - make up your own mind:

The steps of the scientific method are to:

• Ask a Question
• Do Background Research
• Construct a Hypothesis
• Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment
• Record your Observations in a Table of Results
• Analyse the Data and Draw a Conclusion
• Communicate Your Results
• Source: Steps of the scientific method

No matter what your method is, it is important for your experiment to be a fair test:

A fair test means that you should set up your experiment so that everything is fair.

• You should only change one thing at a time, and note down the results.
• If you change more than one thing at a time, you can not tell which thing (variable) it was that affected the results.

Here is the sample rubric: Assessment Rubric

Go to the following page to see the Engineering task referred to in the above rubric Engineering task

Tests and interviews revealed that almost all students shared certain misconceptions about light and its role in vision. In particular, most students believed that their eyes perceived objects directly rather than detecting light reflected by those objects.

Most students also viewed colour as a property of objects, not of light reflected by those objects.

When teachers used conventional textbook-based methods of instruction, only a few students were successful in changing these misconceptions.

Most students, however, successfully mastered the scientific conceptions when teachers used materials specifically designed to help students overcome their misconceptions. ²⁾

1. The pupil of the eye is a black object or spot on the surface of the eye.
2. The eye receives upright images.
3. The lens is the only part of the eye responsible for focusing light.
4. The lens forms and image (picture) on the retina. The brain then “looks” at this image and that is how we see.
5. The eye is the only organ for sight; the brain is only for thinking.
6. A white light source, such as an incandescent or fluorescent bulb, produces light made up of only one colour.
7. Sunlight is different from other sources of light because it contains no color.
8. When white light passes through a prism, colour is added to the light.
9. The rules for mixing color paints and crayons are the same as the rules for mixing coloured lights.
10. The primary colours for mixing coloured lights are red, blue and yellow.
11. A coloured light striking an object produces a shadow behind it that is the same color as the light. For example, when red light strikes an object, a red shadow is formed.
12. The shades of grey in a black and white newspaper picture are produced by using inks with different shades of grey.
13. When white light passes through a coloured filter, the filter adds colour to the light.
14. The different colours appearing in coloured pictures printed in magazines and newspapers are produced by using different inks with all the corresponding colours.
15. The mixing of coloured paints and pigments follow the same rules as the mixing of coloured lights.
16. The primary colours used by artists (red, yellow and blue) are the same as the primary colours for all colour mixing.
17. Colour is a property of an object, and is independent of both the illuminating light and the receiver (eye).
18. White light is colorless and clear, enabling you to see the “true” color of an object.
19. When a colored light illuminates a colored object, the color of the light mixes with the color of the object.
20. Naïve explanations of visual phenomena involving colour perception usually involve only the properties of the object being observed, and do not include the properties of the eye-brain system.