An Investigation of Light from Visible to Invisible
Students will investigate the properties of light, including the visible and electromagnetic spectrum, and how light interacts with matter through reflection, absorption, and transmission and learn why celestial objects appear to have different brightnesses based on their distance from Earth.
Overview
Students investigate why the Sun appears brighter than other stars and what light is made of. The lesson opens with a Notice and Wonder chart built from images and videos of the night sky, observations of rainbows and filtered sunlight, and a color-by-number nebula activity. Students then observe M&M's under red, green, and blue light, split white light, use colored filters, and model apparent brightness with two flashlights at measured distances. Texts and a composite deep-space image connect these ideas to the visible and electromagnetic spectra. Students plan, draft, and revise an argumentative essay on the Sun's brightness and on light and filters in daily life. Each 5E phase is planned for one to two days, except Evaluate, which is planned for two to three days, for a total of five to seven 45–60-minute classes.
Lesson Objectives
- Brightness of Celestial Bodies
- Explain why the sun appears brighter than other stars due to its closeness to Earth.
- Properties of Light
- Explain that white light consists of the visible spectrum (rainbow colors).
- Describe how filters affect the colors we see, and the types of light that might be invisible to our own eyes but how filters help us to see them
- Understand visible light as part of the broader electromagnetic spectrum emitted by the sun.
- Scientific Inquiry and Argumentation
- Engage in scientific inquiry by asking questions, collecting evidence, and constructing arguments.
- Support scientific arguments with evidence from observations and texts.
- Construct well-organized argumentative writing with clear claims, reasons, and evidence.
Standards
NGSS · 6
- 5-ESS1-1Support an argument that differences in the apparent brightness of the sun compared to other stars is due to their relative distances from Earth.
- Compare the sun to other stars and discuss how distance plays a factor
- 5-PS1-3Make observations and measurements to identify materials based on their properties.
- Celestial bodies are composed of different compounds, which give off different types of light, as observed by use of filters
- MS-PS4-2Develop and use a model to describe that waves are reflected, absorbed, or transmitted through various materials.
- MS-ESS1-3Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
CCSS Math · 2
- 6.RP.A.1Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a ratio relationship between two quantities.
- 7.RP.A.2Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.
CCSS ELA · 8
- W.5.1Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.
- W.5.1.aIntroduce a topic or text clearly, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure in which ideas are logically grouped to support the writer’s purpose.
- W.5.1.bProvide logically ordered reasons that are supported by facts and details.
- W.5.1.cLink opinion and reasons using words, phrases, and clauses (e.g., consequently, specifically).
- W.5.1.dProvide a concluding statement or section related to the opinion presented.
- SL.5.4Report on a topic or text or present an opinion, sequencing ideas logically and using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
- RST.6-8.1Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.
- RST.6-8.7Integrate quantitative or technical information expressed in words in a text with a version of that information expressed visually (e.g., in a flowchart, diagram, model, graph, or table).