Elementary grade students investigate heat transfer in this activity to design and build a solar oven, then test its effectiveness using a temperature sensor. It blends the hands-on activity with digital graphing tools that allow kids to easily plot and share their data. Included in the package are illustrated procedures and extension activities. Note Requirements: This lesson requires a "VernierGo" temperature sensing device, available for ~ $40. This item is part of the Concord Consortium, a nonprofit research and development organization dedicated to transforming education through technology. The Consortium develops digital learning innovations for science, mathematics, and engineering.

In this video David explains what constructive and destructive interference means as well as how path length differences and pi shifts affect the interference. Created by David SantoPietro.

This 10-minute video lesson provides a basic introduction to light and electromagnetic radiation. [Cosmology and Astronomy playlist: Lesson 68 of 85]

In this activity, students construct their own pinhole camera to observe the behavior of light.

This activity gives a visual representation of how we are able to observe many colors in a sunrise or sunset.

Students explore the many different ways that engineers provide natural lighting to interior spaces. They analyze various methods of daylighting by constructing model houses from foam core board and simulating the sun with a desk lamp. Teams design a daylighting system for their model houses based on their observations and calculations of the optimal use of available sunlight to their structure.

In this video David derives the mirror equation and magnification equation. Created by David SantoPietro.

Students find and calculate the angle that light is transmitted through a holographic diffraction grating using trigonometry. After finding this angle, student teams design and build their own spectrographs, researching and designing a ground- or space-based mission using their creation. At project end, teams present their findings to the class, as if they were making an engineering conference presentation. Student must have completed the associated Building a Fancy Spectrograph activity before attempting this activity.

In this optics activity, demonstrate diffraction using a candle or a small bright flashlight bulb and a slide made with two pencils. Learners will observe the diffraction pattern and learn that light has wavelike properties.

What happens when there's way more than two holes? Created by David SantoPietro.

The index of refraction in a material isn't always the same for every wavelength. This is how prisms split white light into so many colors. Created by David SantoPietro.

In this activity, students will test whether the color of a material affects how much heat it absorbs.

This issue of the free online magazine, Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, explores the Sun's role in warming Earth, the albedo (reflectivity) of Earth's diverse surfaces, and how the decline of Arctic sea ice is affecting Earth's energy balance. Science lessons introduce the concepts of solar energy, reflection, and absorption to elementary students. The issue also includes an overview of the natural resources and energy sources found in the polar regions as well as lessons that allow students to develop the concepts of natural resources, energy sources, and energy efficiency.

This article assembles free resources from the Energy and the Polar Environment issue of the Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine into a unit outline based on the 5E learning cycle framework. Outlines are provided for Grades K-2 and 3-5.

This article highlights children's literature about light, heat, and energy sources for use in the elementary classroom.

Students use simple materials to design an open spectrograph so they can calculate the angle light is bent when it passes through a holographic diffraction grating. A holographic diffraction grating acts like a prism, showing the visual components of light. After finding the desired angles, students use what they have learned to design their own spectrograph enclosure.

In a hands-on way, students explore light's properties of absorption, reflection, transmission and refraction through various experimental stations within the classroom. To understand absorption, reflection and transmission, they shine flashlights on a number of preselected objects. To understand refraction, students create indoor rainbows. An understanding of the fundamental properties of light is essential to designing an invisible laser security system.