National Science Week commences on Saturday 15th August and the theme this year is “Light”. This K-3 interactive slideshow looks at the topic of rainbows and includes an easy investigation and an excellent animation link from the NSW resource ebook. The investigation is best conducted in direct sunlight through a window – outside it is too bright to see the rainbow easily. I would give it a try before your students so you are familiar with the angle of the paper to the the rainbow. Have fun catching rainbows!
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I saw a great activity today – a large sheet of litho paper was attached to the inside of a puppet theatre, with a floodlight placed behind it. Students then placed objects between the light and the paper with the audience on the other side. They investigated near/far shadows, the difference between transparent, semi-transparent and opaque materials (cellophane/tissue paper/card) and the shadows produced by various objects. As a follow up they created cut-outs to make shadow plays of nursery rhymes – brilliant!
Offering children time and opportunity to view their shadows at different times of the day. If on concrete they can draw around each other’s with chalk and them compare them a half hour/hour later and see what has changed
Any ideas for other simple investigations on the topic of light?