Module Overview: Light (Level 3 -- Physical Science)
Whether watching light "bend" a pencil in water or building a periscope, the combination of hands-on, multi-sensory learning enables children to understand what light is, how it behaves, and why it makes sight possible.
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Module Summary
View a printable (PDF) Unit Summary of the module.
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Lessons at a Glance
Lesson 1: Light Is Everywhere
Big Idea: Light is all around us. If you can see something, then light must be present.
Through a science talk, children examine how they sense light and how they think light moves from place to place. They also draw models, which they refer back to at the end of the unit, that show their ideas about the behavior of light.
Lesson 2: Light and Dark
Big Idea: Light is all around us. If you can see something, then light must be present.
The children examine sources of light and attempt to create total darkness in their classroom. The difficulty of creating an absence of light provides a context for exploring how light travels.
Lesson 3: The Path of Light
Big Idea: Light travels in straight lines. It moves outward in all directions from a source until it hits something.
Children explore how light travels by observing a light beam pass through a cloudy solution, and by creating a model that simulates its straight path.
Lesson 4: Light Bounces
Big Idea: When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it.
Children investigate what happens when light bounces, or reflects, off things. They learn that when light hits an object, it can bounce directly back, creating a mirror-like reflection, or bounce in many directions and scatter.
Lesson 5: Light and the Eye
Big Idea: The eye detects light. You see when light comes into your eye.
Children consider how the eye reacts to differences in light. They learn that we are able to see things because light bounces off of objects and into our eyes. They also observe that the more light there is, the easier it is to see.
Lesson 6: Modeling How Light Travels
Big Idea: Light travels in straight lines. It moves outward in all directions from a source until it hits something. When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it.
Children manipulate periscopes to observe a variety of objects. They consider how the model of reflecting light presented in Lesson 4 applies to their periscope observations.
Lesson 7: Light and Materials
Big Idea: When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it.
Children investigate how much light can "go through" different materials. They experiment with a variety of opaque, transparent, and translucent materials to compare how much light passes through each material.
Lesson 8: Opaque Materials
Big Idea: When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it.
Children learn that opaque materials reflect light, absorb light, or both. They compare opaque materials that reflect light to materials that absorb light. They also discover that sometimes an opaque material can be changed into a translucent material by altering its thickness.
Lesson 9: Transparent Materials
Big Idea: When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it. When light goes through a transparent object, it either goes straight through or changes directions.
Children experiment with transparent materials and gain a deeper understanding that light passes through these materials. They think about how transparent objects reflect light, enabling us to see them. In addition, they see examples of how light can change directions.
Lesson 10: Another Look at Light
Big Idea: Light travels in straight lines. It moves outward in all directions from a source until it hits something. When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it. You see when light comes into your eye.
The children re-evaluate the models of light they drew in Lesson 1. They review their questions about light and reflect on their understanding of light. Using this information, they generate a list of criteria for making models of light, which they use to revise their own initial models.
Lesson 11: Light Extravaganza
Big Idea: Light travels in straight lines. It moves outward in all directions from a source until it hits something. When light hits something, one or more of these three things can happen: the light can bounce off the object, go through it, or be absorbed by it. You see when light comes into your eye.
Children role-play two different scenarios that model the behavior of light. While providing an opportunity for children to apply their understanding of light kinesthetically, this lesson also functions as an in-class, summative assessment of the unit.
Skill Building Activity: Using Models in Science
Big Idea: Scientists use models to represent things that are too big, small, fast, slow, far away, or dangerous to observe in the real world.
Children study various types of models and learn how they are used in science. They also make models of their own.