Light, Optics and Lenses for Middle School Science Teachers

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Light, Optics and Lenses

Introduction

Background Information for Teachers

Lessons on the Nature of Light

Lessons on Optical Devices

National Science Education Standards

Introduction

Remember how much you enjoyed those wacky mirrors in the fun house at the amusement park? Or the colorful geometric images in a kaleidoscope? And don’t forget the awesome images of stars, nebulae, and distant galaxies from the Hubble space telescope! Middle school students appreciate the fun these examples of the effects of light, lenses and optics represent. You can inexpensively and feasibly give students direct experience with each of these examples.

Fun house mirrors are easily made with some shiny sheet metal, or they can be purchased. Inexpensive kaleidoscopes can be purchased online or at a toy store, and Hubble images are available online. Using these perspectives to approach a study of light, reflection, refraction, and absorption will hook your students. Students can be "allowed" (read "required") to build their own fun mirrors and kaleidoscopes, as long as they are prepared to fully explain the science behind them, a la summative assessment.

Hooked on the study of light and optics, curious students may ask: Why is the sky blue? Why are rainbows relatively rare? What's the difference between regular lenses, bifocals, and trifocals? Why do telescopes make very large, distant objects appear closer (as opposed to larger) while microscopes make very small objects appear larger? What's with those round security mirrors in stores? Why is my reflection upside-down on the back of a spoon?

Physical Science Content Standard B of the National Science Education Standards encompasses transfer of energy and specifically states, "Light interacts with matter by transmission (including refraction), absorption, or scattering (including reflection). To see an object, light from that object — emitted by or scattered from it — must enter the eye." Our objective in this publication is to provide background content, resources, lessons, and activities to help you and your students meet and exceed this standard.

We begin with early investigations into the nature of light that culminated in the current understanding of the nature of light, both visible and invisible as the same physical laws apply to the entire electromagnetic spectrum. From there students are ready to explore the interaction of light with various surfaces, producing a variety of perceptible effects. Finally, students will be able to apply their knowledge through construction, critique, and assessment of their own optical devices or interpretation of optically derived data.

Other methods of student investigation could include research into, and reporting on, optical devices that extend our sense of sight, such as infrared cameras, telescopes that create images with radio waves, and night-vision goggles. If you are located near a Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) facility or an armed forces base, you may be able to line up a guest speaker who can demonstrate some of these devices.

Other devices for investigation include scanning electron microscopes, cell phones, and microwave ovens. Although these devices represent a wide variety of applications, they rely on the same fundamental theories in physics that explain the behavior of "light," which we now recognize as extending beyond the visible light spectrum.

The resources in Background Information for Teachers include articles, photographs, illustrations, and simulations, some of which are interactive, that will fortify your content knowledge and support you through the instructional unit. The lessons on the nature of light and optical devices include hands-on, minds-on, and virtual activities. The National Science Education Standards section highlights the various standards that are addressed in these lessons and activities, including the history and nature of science, science and technology, science as inquiry, and of course physical science.

by Mary LeFever

Mary LeFever is a resource specialist for the Middle School Portal, and a doctoral candidate in science education at Ohio State University. She has taught middle school and high school science and is an adjunct instructor of biology and natural sciences at Columbus State Community College. Please email any comments to msp@msteacher.org.

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Blog with Us. Every week, we connect what's making the news to the National Content Standards...so you can too! read and share your ideas on our blog Connecting the News to National Science Education Standards at http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/.

Copyright October 2007 — The Ohio State University. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0424671. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.