Optics Resources

Last week I shared with you the resources that I had compiled for my Grade 8 Science Unit: Cells & Systems. In similar fashion to my Grade 7 Science class, Grade 8 Science is composed for four units that are covered throughout the school year. The second of these units is Optics. The video below is one of my favourite videos I found to use in this unit, it is created by Mr. Parr who has some amazing science songs.

Electromagnetic Spectrum Song. (2011). Uploaded to YouTube by Mr.Parr. Available online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_PVz8HrrCI

I specifically planned out this unit so that it could be covered in November/December because it is the time of the school year where it is most likely to be getting darker in the afternoon. Since so many of the labs involve lights and requiring the classroom to be truly dark, I wanted to plan it for when it would be the easiest to have a dark classroom!

Intro to Optics

Enduring Understanding: Light is a form of energy that starts at a source when electrical, thermal, chemical, or nuclear energy is transformed to radiant energy.

8-2-01 Use appropriate vocabulary related to their investigations of optics.

Include: spectrum; additive theory; subtractive theory; frequency;

wavelength; refraction; concave and convex mirrors and lenses; terms

related to types of light sources, types of electromagnetic radiation, and

the law of reflection.

8-2-02 Differentiate between incandescent and luminescent sources of light.

Include: fluorescent, phosphorescent, chemiluscent, bioluminescent.

8-2-03 Demonstrate that light is a form of energy, that light travels in a straight

line, and can be separated into the visible light spectrum.

Colour

Enduring Understanding: Colour is the term associated with the frequency of a light wave in the visible light spectrum and is explained through two theories: the additive colour theory and the subtractive colour theory.

8-2-04 Explain, using the additive theory, how colours are produced, and identify

applications of this theory in daily life.

8-2-05 Explain how the human eye detects colour. and how the ability to perceive

colour may vary from person to person.

8-2-06 Demonstrate, using the subtractive theory, how colours are produced, and

identify applications of this theory in daily life.

Electromagnetic Radiation

Enduring Understanding: Electromagnetic radiation is energy travelling at lower and higher frequencies than visible light and can provide harm and benefits to humans

8-2-07 Compare and contrast various types of electromagnetic radiation, with

respect to relative energy, frequency, wavelength, and human perception.

Include: radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light,

ultraviolet radiation, x-rays, gamma rays.

8-2-08 Provide examples of technologies that use electromagnetic radiation, and

describe potential positive and negative impacts of their uses.

Movement of Light

Enduring Understanding: Events associated with light are highly predictable by using the model suggesting that light travels in straight lines until it is stopped (absorbed) or redirected (reflected or refracted)

8-2-09 Conduct experiment to determine the law of reflection, and provide

examples of the use of reflection in daily life.

Include: the angle of reflection is the same as the angle of incidence the

incident beam, the normal and the reflected beam are all on the same

plane.

8-2-10 Conduct experiment to compare the refraction of light through substances

of different densities.

8-2-11 Explain how reflection and refraction produce natural phenomena.

8-2-12 Investigate to determine how light interacts with concave and convex

mirrors and lenses, and provide examples of their use in various optical

instruments and systems.

8-2-13 Demonstrate the formation of images using a double convex lens, and

predict the effects of changes in lens position on the size and location of

the image.

8-2-14 Compare the functional operation of the human eye to that of a camera

focusing an image.

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In addition to hard-copy resources I have available in the school and from colleagues, I also started to organize some online resources to supplement our classroom activities. Here are the resources I found, organized by the themes I stated above. For each one I’ve included the title, a very brief point about what it includes, and the link.

Intro to Optics

Bioluminescent Bays

– Get students to question why

– Article, good basis for further research

– http://www.helium.com/items/2105414-best-bioluminescent-bays-in-the-world

The Brilliance of Bioluminescence Ted ED Lesson

– Video, article, questions, and discussion

– Explains Bioluminescence

– http://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-brilliance-of-bioluminescence-leslie-kenna

Mountain Dew Glow Stick Lab

– Chemiluminesnce

– Recreate in the classroom