Lights, Camera, Action!

1. Activator:  (10 minutes)
   • Divide students into groups with no more than 4 to a team.  Distribute Ziploc bags with materials, white cardstock, and the Does Light Pass Through handout. 
   • Refer students to the Essential Question displayed—How does light interact with materials?  Explain to students that they will be exploring how light interacts with other materials by determining if light can pass through and if it does pass through, how it behaves.
   • Before starting with the flashlight, ask them to predict whether each object will allow all, some, or none of the light to pass through the object before they test.  Using the handout, students should list the materials in the bag on the handout and write their predictions. 
   • Do one sample altogether as a class.  Turn off the classroom lights.  Ask students to turn on the flashlight and aim it at the object being explored.  Ask:  How will you decide if all, some or none of the light is passing through the object?  Ask probing questions to lead students to the idea that they should point the flashlight towards a solid colored background (white cardstock) and hold the object between the flashlight and the background.  This will enable them to see the interaction more clearly. 
   • Students should repeat the process with the other objects.  Make sure students are taking turns holding the flashlight, the backdrop, and the object and are recording their observations individually. 
   • After testing all of the materials, they should group the items under the headings:  All light passed through, some light passed through, no light passed through and record that on page 2 of the handout. 
2. (5 minutes) Direct students’ attention to the essential question.  Ask students to use their science notebooks to write for 3 minutes answering the essential question.  (Teacher Notes:  Notebooking Entry is a Reflective Writing Strategy that allows students to synthesize their learning by writing about it.  It provides students with the opportunity to self-assess and can take place before, during or after a learning experience.  For Notebooking entries, students are provided with a prompt that is associated with the learning and given 3 to 5 minutes to respond in their notebooks. See Reflective Writing Strategies handout that is included.)  PDF with instructions is included with this lesson.
3.  Direct instruction (up to 15 minutes):  Have students refer back to the activator handout and the three categories:  all light passed through, some light passed through and no light passed through.  Introduce to students, the level three vocabulary for this lesson. An object is said to be transparent when all light passes through.  Objects that let some light in are translucent.  Finally, when no light passes through an object, it is said to be opaque.  Where would we use materials that are transparent (let all of the light pass through)? Translucent (let most of the light pass through)? Opaque (light does not pass through)? (For example: opaque material for clothing, opaque or translucent materials for window coverings, translucent or transparent for windows). You may have students write the level 3 vocabulary words, explain and illustrate in their notebooks.
4.  Student Investigations
   • (20 minutes) Technology (If students have 1:1, they can view it and engage with it, otherwise, the teacher can show it on the Smartboard.
     • https://www.knowitall.org/interactive/director-kids-work   Students will investigate what it takes to be a director at a studio (college/career readiness, STEM, arts)
     • https://www.knowitall.org/interactive/lighting-designer-kids-work Students will discover some ways that light is used for photography and studio/tv work.
   • (40 minutes) Now you have seen how professionals use light to help them do their work at a studio and you have had the opportunity to investigate how light reacts with different materials.  Sometimes you need to block it, make it less bright, or let it shine straight through.  You are now the director of your own studio!  Each group will get a box.  You can decide how to open, cut or fold it to contain the light.  The box is the “walls” of your studio. You can use the clothespins and pipe cleaners to hold and tilt your lights.  You will have two dolls to represent news anchors.  Your goal is to design a set that highlights your anchors without being too bright or too dark, shading their faces too much, etc.  You will use the materials from your Ziploc back to control the light.
   • After you have designed your studio, your group will create a written explanation of what materials you chose and why, along with why you placed your light(s) where you did.   Be sure to use words like opaque, translucent, and transparent in your description. Once you have written out what you want to say use a __ device (teacher will need to specify which type of device is available) to record a news broadcast explaining the career of director of lighting, using what you wrote.  You can use your dolls to be the anchors and film them as you narrate.
   • The teacher will determine how and when the videos will be shared based on resources and time constraints at each school.

* (30-40 minutes) They need to create a script explaining how light works in all three types of materials.  This can be performed for the class or recorded to be shared later.
 

Differentiation: Consider limiting the number of materials for the experiment. An alternative to the studio activity is to have students use the materials in the Ziploc bag to create a variety of shadow characters in a show using all three types of materials to demonstrate and explain opaque, translucent, and transparent.

Extension: Go on an observation walk either at the end of class or at recess to identify objects around school as opaque, transparent, or translucent and to have students explain why the function (being opaque, transparent, or translucent) is important.

As a formative assessment in the form of an exit slip, have students specifically identify an opaque, translucent, and transparent items at their home. Bonus: Is there an object you can think of that has two or all three of those properties?