Planning Guide

Creating Learner-Focused
Schools

* Madison-Oneida BOCES- This document may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed written consent of the District Superintendent or his designee.

Pre-Requisite Knowledge:

Students should know that light is a form of energy that is very useful in our daily lives. Light moves in a straight line. They should be able to identify light sources. Students should also have some basic knowledge of the reflection of light. They should also be experienced in ClarisWorks and the use of CD ROM as it is taught throughout elementary school.

CONTENT KNOWLEDGE

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

-What are the characteristics of light?

-How are rainbows formed?

-Why can we see colors?

INITIATING ACTIVITY

Ask students to explain what happens when colors are mixed together.

Students will be given a small paper plate. The plates should be divided into four equal sections. The students will color the plate as follows: one section red, one blue, one yellow, and one white. Make a hole in the middle of the plate and put a pencil or a stick through it. If the plate is spun very quickly, what will happen? Students should write their predictions. Spin the plate. What happens? Why does the plate look white?

DECLARATIVE KNOWLEDGE

Learning Experience 1: The Scientific Method

What will be done:

1. LINK (List, Inquire, Note, Know)

Write "Scientific Method on the board.

• Have each student come up with one word that may be associated with "Scientific Method."
• Hold a class discussion. Are all of the responses logical?
• Erase the board. Have students independently brainstorm the meaning of "Scientific Method" based on the class discussion and knowledge of scientific discovery.
• The teacher will ask students what they will need in order to solve a problem and hold a class discussion. Then explain that Scientists also have a way of solving a problem and finding an answer.
• Explain the method and write it on the board. Students will then make a sequence chart (graphic organizer) that shows the 4 steps in correct sequential order. Students will understand that the sequence is important. The teacher should model the chart for the students.

Learning Experience 2: Introduction to Light

What will be done:

• The lesson will start with the brainstorming technique of " 5 Words – 3 Words." The students will come up with a list of 5 words relating to anything they know about light. They will be put into groups of 4 or 5 and then share and discuss their words. Look up the definitions on CD ROM Grolier's or Encarta. Each group will share their words with the class.
• The students will do the K and W sections of the KWL chart.
• The teacher will read All About Light.
• The class will then fill in part of the L section. The class will continue to add on to the chart throughout the unit.

Extending and Refining:

• Have students begin their own All About Light folders that will hold all of their Light unit information. The information in the folders will be used for reference for the culminating activity.A checklist of all materials is attached. A copy of the checklist will be put into all folders.

Learning Experience 3: Spreading Light

What will be done:

• Discuss with the class. What happens to the size and shape of the light beam?
• The teacher will darken the room. Turn on a flashlight and look at the beam of light. Students will draw a picture of the light source and the light beam.

Darken the room again and turn on the flashlight. Spray some water into the beam of light. What does it look like now? Students will draw the picture again. Compare and contrast what the beam looked like with the water and without.

Extending and Refining:

• How is the light from the sun like the light from the flashlight?
• What would the world be like if the light from the sun did not spread? Have the students write a response in a response journal or in their All About Light folders.

Learning Experience 4: Opaque, Translucent, Transparent

What will be done:

• Students will have been assigned before this lesson to bring in any material from home. It can be a liquid or a solid. (Discuss the importance of handing materials carefully and that any item used in an experiment can not be eaten.)
• Pair off students and tell them to put the materials or objects into 3 piles according to any characteristics they choose. (accept any classification that is logical and can be justified by the student.)
• Ask each group to explain how they classified the objects. Tell them to re-classify them according to how much light passes through them.
• The teacher will hold up some definition cards with the words: Opaque, Translucent, and Transparent.
• When students have completed their classifications, students will make a 3 column chart and label it as follows: OBJECT, MATERIAL TYPE, and REASON FOR CLASSIFICATION.
• The students will look at all of the objects or materials and classify them as opaque, translucent, or transparent and list them on their charts
• Brainstorm as a class, other objects that can be placed into each column.

Extending and Refining:

Can you predict that a material will be translucent or opaque on whether it is a solid or a liquid? Write a paragraph stating the answer and the reasons for the answer.

Learning Experience 5: Reflection

What will be done:

• Ask students: Where do you see reflections? What do the surfaces have in common? What do you think the best surfaces are to show reflection. Think of reflection in terms of a basketball or a dodge ball. When you drop the ball straight down onto a smooth surface, what happens? (It bounces straight up.)
  What will happen if you drop the ball at an angle?
• Divide the class into groups of two. Have the partners face each other about four feet apart. Give each group a ball. If you wanted to bounce pass the ball to your partner, where should the ball hit the floor? Try it. You must throw the ball at an angle. Therefore, the ball bounces at an angle. What would happen if the ball hit something on the floor? It would bounce off of the object and reflect at a different angle.
  1. Try it with light. Dim the room. Have white paper and a mirror on the wall in the front of the room. Tell students where the source of light is coming from. Students will go up and predict where the beam of light from a flashlight would be reflected. The teacher will shine a flashlight and see which students were the most accurate.
  2. Read and complete the worksheet that describes the angles of light beams.

Extending and Refining:

• Light reflects at an angle, but cannot reflect around corners. Try this experiment:
  Take a drinking straw and look at a light bulb through it. What do you see?
• Now bend the straw. What do you see now? Why?

Learning Experience 6: Reflectors

What will be done:

• Each student will receive a piece of aluminum foil. Students will record the characteristics of it. (Step one of scientific method. Observe using senses.)
• Shine a flashlight onto the foil. What do you see? Record.
• Wrinkle the aluminum foil. Record the characteristics. Shine the flashlight on to the surface. What happens? (The light hits every flat surface and is scattered.) Record observations.

Extending and Refining:

• Pair and Share. What kind of reflectors are used in the headlights of cars and truck? Why?

Learning Experience 7: Refraction

What will be done:

• Gather materials: clear cups, water, vegetable oil, and a pencil. Classify each object as opaque, translucent, and transparent.
• Fill a clear cup halfway with water and add about an inch of vegetable oil.
• Draw a picture.
• Look at the pencil and describe its characteristics.
• Put the pencil in the water. Explain what happens and draw another picture.
• Create and complete a cause and effect chart.
• Write a brief summary of the experiment.

Extending and Refining:

• Your eye also bends light. The front part of your eye is called the lens. They are transparent and allow you to see clearly close up and far away. How do your lenses make this possible?
• Stare at a colorful picture. Quickly look out the window or at a source of light. Do you feel a change in your eyes?
• Do this again with a partner and observe each other’s lenses.

Learning Experience 8: Prisms

What will be done:

• Mix the ingredients to make bubble soap.
• Blow large bubbles through straws.
• Observe the bubbles in the sunlight.
• Examine the colors, record them, draw pictures, and graph the results.
• Work in cooperative groups to write the experiment according to the Scientific Method.
• Present the written experiment to the class.

Learning Experience 9: Seeing Colors

What will be done:

• The teacher will read the article aloud.
• Students will write their own "Amazing But True" color facts.
• Review the steps of the writing process.
• Type the articles on ClarisWorks and add at least one graphic to each.
• Share the creative writing articles with the class.
• Put the articles together to make a class Amazing But True book.

Extending and Refining:

• Give students paints or water and food coloring. Allow them to mix colors and record their results.

PROCEDURAL KNOWLEDGE

CULMINATING ACTIVITY

Objective: Students will make a rainbow.

Instructions for completing the culminating project:

• The assignment is to make a rainbow. Students may use any materials necessary to do the assignment.
• Write a plan for the scientific experiment following the format of the Scientific Method.
• Gather materials.
• Conduct the experiment.
• Write a summary of the experiment emphasizing the following:

1. What sources of light and reflectors of light did you need?
2. What object acts as a prism? Why?
3. What conditions did you need? Why?
4. What conclusions can you draw from the experiment?
5. Present the written plan and the experiment to the class.

RUBRICS

CULMINATING ACTIVITY

Connections To Standards

Science Standards

Standard 1:Analysis, Inquiry, and Design

• The central purpose of scientific inquiry is to develop explanations of natural phenomena in a continuing, creative process.
• Beyond the use of reasoning and consensus, scientific inquiry involves the testing of proposed explanations involving the use of conventional techniques and procedures and usually requiring considerable ingenuity.
• The observations made while testing proposed explanations when analyzed using conventional and invented methods, provide new insights into phenomena.

Standard 4: Science

• Matter is made up of particles whose properties determine the observable characteristics of matter and its reactivity.

Standard 5: Technology

• Students use graphic and electronic tools to process information.

Standard 6: Interconnectedness: Common Themes

• Through systems thinking, people can recognize the commonalties that exist among all systems and how parts of a system interrelate and combine to perform specific functions.
• Models are simplified representations of objects, structures, or systems used in analysis, explanation, interpretation, or design.
• Identifying patterns of change is necessary for making predictions about future behavior and conditions.

Standard 7: Interdisciplinary Problem Solving

• The knowledge and skills of mathematics, science, and technology are used together to make informed decisions and solve problems.
• Solving interdisciplinary problems involves a variety of skills and strategies, including effective work habits, gathering and processing information; generating and analyzing ideas; realizing ideas; making connections among the common themes.

Connections To Standards

English Language Arts

Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.

• -Use prior knowledge
• -Use structural clues
• -Prediction statements
• -Cause and effect
• -Drawing conclusions
• -Enlarge and enhance vocabulary
• -Sentence patterns
• -Brainstorming ideas
• -Writing process
• -Communication

Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis.

• -Listening critically
• -Oral expression
• -Using maps and outlines for writing

Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.

• Speak and listen appropriately in group discussions

Checklist for Science Folder

_____ LE #1 - Scientific Method Chart

_____ LE #2 - KWL Chart

_____ LE #3 - Compare and Contrast Picture

_____ LE #3 - Written Response

_____ LE #4 - 3 Column Chart

_____ LE #4 - Prediction Paragraph

_____ LE #5 - Angle Worksheet

_____ LE #5 - Reflection Experiment

_____ LE #6 - Recording Sheet

_____ LE #6 - Pair and Share Prediction

_____ LE #7 - Cause and Effect Chart

_____ LE #7 - Written Summary and Observations

_____ LE #8 - Graph

_____ LE #8 - Written Experiment

_____ LE #9 - Article