About This Lesson
In this unit, students investigate the phenomena of light and its interaction with matter. The subtitle of the unit is Why do we sometimes see different things when looking at the same object? This is a phenomenon that students experience when they look at a window and see not only what is behind the window but what is reflected off the window glass. This unit allows students to observe weather and climate phenomenon in detail and then start to ask questions, formulate explanations, then set up and conduct activities and research. As students work with classmates to analyze their shared experiences, they can formulate new questions and develop new strategies for answering those questions. Students explore concepts that include the following:
- How can something act like a mirror and a window at the same time?
- How do similar amounts of light transmit through and reflect off a one-way mirror?
- How do light and the one-way mirror interact to cause the one-way mirror phenomenon?
As your students move through their day-to-day activities, they will also read Core Knowledge literacy selections. These include factual articles, history of the sciences, art and literature, spotting bad science in media and advertisements, graphics comprehension, research-type articles, reliability of sources, and other areas of science literacy.
Number of Lessons:
- Teacher Guide: 8 Lessons
- Student Reader: 5 Collections
Instruction Time (Student Reader):
- Lessons are designed to be completed in one or more class periods.
- A Pacing Guide found in Online Resources offers a suggested time to complete the entire unit if class is held each day.
- The entire unit should take about 18 days to complete if class is held each day.
- A complete list of Materials needed to complete the unit is provided in Online Resources.
