Brief Description

There are 5 properties of light in nature. Students will study this physical phenomenon from science books, a video “Mystery of the Senses”-a NOVA miniseries, and through a CD programmed science lesson in “Science Court” by Tom Snyder Productions.

Standards and Frameworks

Technology Standards

• 1T-E2. Demonstrate increasingly sophisticated operation of technology components
• 3T-E1. Use formatting capabilities of technology tools for communicating and illustrating
• 3T-E3. Publish and present information using technology tools
• 4T-E2. Use technology tools for individual and collaborative writing, communication and publishing activities to create curricular related products for audiences inside and outside the classroom

• 5SC-F4. Recognize that light travels in a straight line and can be reflected, refracted or absorbed
• 5SC-F2. Demonstrate that light, heat, motion, magnetism and sound can cause changes
• 5SC-E3. Show that energy exists in many forms and can be transferred in many ways

Academic

Students, in groups, will demonstrate a basic understanding of 3 out of the 5 properties of light discussed in class, by finding examples of these properties inside or outside the classroom.

Technological

Students, in groups, will take pictures of planned examples of the properties of light using a digital camera. The groups will incorporate their pictures along, with 3 descriptive sentences that explain what principal of light their group had demonstrated, into a class PowerPoint. The PowerPoint will become accessible on-line, through a link, in the school’s web site.

Pre-Requisite Technology Skills

• Students will need to learn how to use a digital camera wisely and carefully.
• Students will need to know how to use a disk to save their photographs.
• Students will need to know how to create a slide in the PowerPoint.
• Students will need to know how to add words to their photos in the slide.
• Students will need to know how to down load their digital photos into the computer.
• Students will need to be able to access the pictures to use in their slide.
• Students will need to know how to make a simple PowerPoint presentation using slide transition buttons and at least 1 type of simple animation to be used through out the PowerPoint presentation.

Digital camera, floppy disks, a slide show program like Microsoft PowerPoint, science books in the classroom on the topic of light, “Science Court-Light” CD program by Tom Snyder Productions, video- “Mysteries of the Senses-Vision” by NOVA, Cooperative Learning Project Rubric worksheet (for the teacher), Internet Release Form for Amphitheater Public Schools,and paper/pencils.

Accommodations for Special Needs

• Students with special needs will be paired with a student who will help with the writing.
• Students with special needs will be given one property of light to look for inside or outside the classroom.
• A parent volunteer will act as a guide to help all student groups when they go outdoors to take their photos.
• Students will work in pairs to develop their slide for the PowerPoint. This will help those students with special needs. This formation is also used so the special needs student is not singled out.
• Students who need to be challenged can work on their own, not in pairs, to take photos and make their slide for the PowerPoint presentation. The student should be able to explain the properties of light incorporating scientific terms and/or vocabulary learned through out the lessons.

• The teacher instructs the class on the 4 properties of light through class experiments and discussion of the experiments.
• The class views a video of the properties of light in the film “Mysteries of the Senses-Vision” by NOVA to further reinforce the understanding of the properties of light.
• The class divides into pairs to look for examples of the properties of light in magazines. *The pictures are placed under the 4 properties and glued on to chart paper.
• The students share the pictures, on the chart paper, and explain why the pictures were chosen. This can be shared in front of the class.
• The students will use the chart they created to help design their PowerPoint slide.
• Working in pairs or as a group, the students plan what 4 pictures they will shoot outdoors. The pictures should be examples of the properties of light with places/objects from around the school grounds.
• If working in-groups of four; each group should have the following jobs.  The camera person to shoot the pictures outdoors, a location manager to help decide which scenes around the school will be shot, a timekeeper to help the group keep track of their set time period outdoors, and a taskmaster to keep the group motivated and on task.
• If working in pairs, the jobs are easier to divide up. The jobs remain the same.
• Once outdoors the groups, with the supervision of a classroom parent helper, take their pictures.
• The groups take turns going outdoors to take their photos.
• After each group has taken their turn going outdoors, the camera person down loads their pictures into a file folder for “student work” on to the classroom computer.
• At a scheduled time each group uses the computer.
• At the computer, each group looks at their pictures that their group took. From the 4 pictures the group chooses the 1 that is the best example of a principal of light.
• Using Microsoft PowerPoint, each group selects a power point slide template to use and then downloads their picture onto the power point slide.
• The group adds a description of the picture and also describes which principal of light that their picture is an example of.
• Once all the groups finish their slide, then the slides can be run together into a simple PowerPoint presentation.
• Before publishing the class PowerPoint presentation, make sure the students have their parents sign an internet release form to allow the work to be published on the school’s web page.
• The slide show will be displayed on a video monitor, connected to the computer, in the classroom. If available, the PowerPoint could be displayed on a screen in the computer lab. This is so the entire class can see all the slides at once as they are displayed.
• Each group will choose a spokes person or the whole group can speak. This person or persons will describe or read their slide as it appears on the TV monitor.
• After the PowerPoint has been completed, the presentation will be placed on the school’s web site. The students will be able to access the presentation through a link on the web page. The student and their families will be able to see what their class has been working on.

• The teacher, on a simple rubric will judge the product, PowerPoint slide, which each group creates.
• Prentice Hall  School has many useful rubrics to evaluate student writings and projects. The one used for this lesson is titled, “Cooperative Learning Project Rubric B: Outcome or Product” Can be found at http://www.phschool.com/professional_development/assessment/rub_coop_product.cfm.
• The rubric will be used to look at how much each slide is completed, quality of facts, accuracy of facts about the principals of light, and how well the picture matches the principal.
• The paper chart will be given a check mark or – based on whether the chart was completed or not.