Primary Type: Lesson Plan
Status: Published
This is a resource from CPALMS (www.cpalms.org) where all educators go for bright ideas!
Resource ID#: 75598
Visible Light in the EM Spectrum
This is a lesson to address the visible light portion of the Electromagnetic Spectrum. Students will construct and test prisms, identify the visible light
spectrum created from prisms, as well as read informational text, summarize, and share with peers.
Subject(s): Science
Grade Level(s): 8
Intended Audience: Educators
Suggested Technology: Computer for Presenter,
Computers for Students, Internet Connection, LCD
Projector
Instructional Time: 1 Hour(s) 30 Minute(s)
Resource supports reading in content area: Yes
Freely Available: Yes
Keywords: Electromagnetic Spectrum, EM Spectrum, Visible Light, Prisms, Wavelengths, Frequencies, Energy
Resource Collection: FCR-STEMLearn Earth Systems
ATTACHMENTS
EM Spectrum Project and Rubric.docx
Visible Light Lab with Rubric_advanced.docx
Visible Light Lab with Rubric_standard.docx
Spectroscope Activity.docx
LESSON CONTENT
Lesson Plan Template: Learning Cycle (5E Model)
Learning Objectives: What will students know and be able to do as a result of this lesson?
Students will infer how the bending of light waves depends on their wavelength.
Students will construct and observe the different colors that are produced by a prism.
Students will explore what happens to visible light as it passes through a prism.
Prior Knowledge: What prior knowledge should students have for this lesson?
Students need to understand basic wave functions and be able to describe the electromagnetic spectrum and have an understanding of the waves and frequencies.
Guiding Questions: What are the guiding questions for this lesson?
How does Earth receive the sun's energy?
How does the visible light spectrum compare to the EM Spectrum as a whole?
What is the relationship between wavelength, frequency, and energy?
Engage: What object, event, or questions will the teacher use to trigger the students' curiosity and engage them in the concepts?
Hook: Play YouTube's Electromagnetic Spectrum Song by Emerson Woo and Wong Yann http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjOGNVH3D4Y as students enter the
classroom.
Bellwork "Jot Thoughts":
1. At the beginning of the lesson give students 2 minutes to write what they can about the EM Spectrum, wavelengths, and frequencies onto a sticky and place in a pile
page 1 of 4 in front of them.
2. Make sure to remind to write 1 thought per sticky.
3. When time is called students will have 4 minutes to share their sticky notes with their group members and combine and categorize their sticky "thoughts" onto their
group whiteboard.
4. While circulating through the groups teachers should see groups arranging their sticky notes onto their whiteboards.
5. Teacher will then start calling on groups to share out one of their group categories up on the front whiteboard and place their sticky notes onto it.
6. Teacher will then call on the next group to share a categories and place their sticky notes into that category as well as any sticky notes that can be placed in the
previous category.
7. This will continue until all new categories have been exhausted and all students' sticky notes have been placed on the front board.
8. From the class thoughts listed on the board groups will then be given 1 minute to come up with a 1 sentence summary.
9. Finally, groups will stand and share their summaries to their peers.
Explore: What will the students do to explore the concepts and skills being developed through the lesson?
Reading Activity with WIN Summary (30min):
Have students partner read the Visible Light portion of NASA's "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum".
If technology available students can go to the website or teacher can print the necessary pages or entire packet for student use.
During the lesson students will create a WIN Summary from "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum".
In their groups students will summarize the article on a large whiteboard or paper.
Students will create 3 columns and list one of the 3 letters atop each column and fill in accordingly.
W- Who, what, where, when, why?
I - List 3-5 additional important facts that are not a part of "W"
N - Summarize the text in the least number of words.
Students will take post-its with them and "gallery walk" the WIN Summaries making sure to provide groups constructive feedback about improving their summaries.
This could be something they may have forgotten to add, something that needs clarification, overall suggestions for improvement, etc.
Explain: What will the students and teacher do so students have opportunities to clarify their ideas, reach a conclusion or
generalization, and communicate what they know to others?
After the WIN Summary of the Visible Light portion of NASA's "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum" as a class we will debrief and create a Tree Map Organizer for
students to streamline the main ideas of the informational text. You can create your map on the board and call on groups to share information making sure to guide
students to the concepts listed below.
Sun's Energy arrives to Earth as radiation.
Longer wavelengths have lower frequencies and carry lower energy
Shorter wavelengths have higher frequencies and carry higher energy
R-O-Y-G-B-I-V (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
Red associated with longer wavelengths, lower frequencies, and lower energy.
Violet associated with shorter wavelengths, higher frequencies, and higher energy
Visible light is a portion of the EM Spectrum as a whole and it is the only part of the spectrum our eyes detect.
Elaborate: What will the students do to apply their conceptual understanding and skills to solve a problem, make a decision,
perform a task, or make sense of new knowledge?
Lab Activity: Visible Light "Rainbow" Lab
**there are 2 versions one for students that require more instruction and one for more advanced/gifted students that is more inquiry based)
Please make sure to review lab safety with students.
Students will be asked to create a prism using 3 microscope slides to form a long prism. They will also be given prisms to compare with. They will be given the
necessary materials to create their prisms and required to turn in a lab write-up (1 per group).
Feedback: Once complete students will trade lab write-ups and provide feedback using the provided rubric. Students will then receive their labs back and can make any
corrections before handing in to teacher.
Debrief: Discuss with students the procedures used; what where their findings; any "ah ha" moments; surprising data, etc.
Exit Slip "Snowball": Students will write a question they feel is important on the top of a ½ sheet of paper. Once everyone is ready they will ball up their paper and
everyone will throw their "snowballs" to the front of the room (or other designated area). Students will they go grab a snowball and answer that question making sure
to use complete sentences and supporting details from what they learned. Teacher will collect those "snowballs" to assess students understanding of the day's
concepts and make note of any struggles or misconceptions to be addressed during the next class period.
If necessary you can come up with a set of questions for students to choose from and write down depending on the ability and confidence level of your students and
have the students write those down to ball up.
Possible Questions:
How does the Sun's Energy arrive on Earth?
How does the Visible light spectrum compare to the EM Spectrum as a whole?
What is the relationship between wavelengths, frequencies, and energy?
What is the order of colors in the Visible Light Spectrum and why are they in that order?
Why does a prism separate visible light into the colors of the spectrum?
Possible Misconceptions:
longer wavelengths mean more energy
shorter wavelengths mean less energy
page 2 of 4 red means hotter
blue/purple mean colder
Summative Assessment
Students will design and complete a Visible Light Lab with written report to be assessed. A rubric will be provided for both peer and teacher feedback.
Formative Assessment
Beginning the Lesson:
Bellwork "Jot Thoughts": At the beginning of the lesson give students 2 minutes to write what they can about the EM Spectrum, wavelengths, and frequencies onto a
sticky and place in a pile in front of them. Make sure to remind to write 1 thought per sticky. When time is called students will have 4 minutes to share their sticky
notes with their group members and combine and categorize their sticky "thoughts" onto their group whiteboard. While circulating through the groups teachers should
see groups arranging their sticky notes onto their whiteboards. Teacher will then start calling on groups to share out one of their group categories up on the front
whiteboard and place their sticky notes onto it. Teacher will then call on the next group to share a categories and place their sticky notes into that category as well as
any sticky notes that can be placed in the previous category. This will continue until all new categories have been exhausted and all students' sticky notes have been
placed on the front board. From the class thoughts listed on the board groups will then be given 1 minute to come up with a 1 sentence summary. Finally, groups will
stand and share their summaries to their peers.
During the Lesson:
Reading Activity with WIN Summary (30min): Have students partner read the Visible Light portion of NASA's "Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum" from
http://missionscience.nasa.gov/ems/09_visiblelight.html. In their groups students will summarize the article on a large whiteboard or paper. Students will create 3
columns and list one of the 3 letters atop each column and fill in accordingly.
W- Who, what, where, when, why?
I - List 3-5 additional important facts that are not a part of "W"
N - Summarize the text in the least number of words.
Students will take post-its with them and "gallery walk" the WIN Summaries making sure to provide groups constructive feedback about improving their summaries.
This could be something they may have forgotten to add, something that needs clarification, overall suggestions for improvement, etc.
End of the Lesson:
"Snowball" Exit Slip: Students will write a question they feel is important from today's lesson on the top of 1/2 sheet of paper. Once everyone is ready they will ball up
their paper and everyone will throw their "snowballs" to the front of the room (or other designated area). Students will then go grab a "snowball" and answer that
question making sure to use complete sentences and supporting details from what they learned. Teacher will collect the "snowballs" to assess students understanding
of the lesson concepts making sure to note any lingering misconceptions or concept gaps.
If more direct instruction is necessary you can come up with a set of questions for students to choose and write on their "snowballs" and ball those up to use.
How does the Sun's Energy arrive on Earth?
How does the Visible light spectrum compare to the EM Spectrum as a whole?
What is the relationship between wavelengths, frequencies, and energy?
What is the order of colors in the Visible Light Spectrum and why are they in that order?
Why does a prism separate visible light into the colors of the spectrum?
Possible Misconceptions:
longer wavelengths mean more energy
shorter wavelengths mean less energy
red means hotter
blue/purple mean colder
Feedback to Students
Constant feedback will be provided by the teacher as they circulate throughout the classroom during all activities.
Students will be given peer and teacher feedback during the bellwork in their groups and via whole group.
In addition, during the WIN Summary of the article students will receive feedback from both peers and teacher as they share their summaries with other groups.
During their Visible light lab students will receive feedback from peers during the lab as they collaborate to create and test their prisms, from teacher during
circulation throughout lab asking questions of students and challenging ideas and finally again from peers and teacher as lab write up is assessed via the rubric and
returned.
Feedback will again be provided from the teacher after the "Snowball" exit the following class period either written or addressed to class (teacher discretion).
ACCOMMODATIONS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Accommodations:
Depending on the level of students you can tailor the activities with either more or less structure. For those that require more direct instruction hand-outs or a
template can be created for more structure.
page 3 of 4 For the Prism lab there are 2 options, for the lower level students who may require more directed instruction there is the lab with guided instructions and for the more
advanced or gifted students there is a more inquiry based lab where they are designing their own lab and writing the procedures. These two options can be used on a
class to class basis or in a more integrated classes with multiple levels of student.
Extensions:
Prism Lab Extension Questions: Have students explore how light lessens as divers go deeper into the ocean and have them explain why. They can design an
experiment, create a model or poster to explain.
Students can complete a Spectroscope Activity where they analyze visible light using a spectroscope.
Students can complete an Electromagnetic Spectrum Project with rubric attached.
Suggested Technology: Computer for Presenter, Computers for Students, Internet Connection, LCD Projector
Special Materials Needed:
Whiteboards
Whiteboard markers
Microscope slides (3 per group)
Flashlight and other light systems
Transparent tape
Clay
Water
Prism
Black Construction Paper
Further Recommendations:
Review safety contracts and/or review safety about light in the eyes.
Don't use chipped or cracked slides for this activity. Review with students proper broken glass disposal for your classroom.
Additional Information/Instructions
By Author/Submitter
Students should have a basic knowledge or introduction to the Electromagnetic Spectrum from a previous lessons to include discussions on wavelengths and frequencies.
Students need to be able to relate long wavelengths with lower frequencies and energy; short wavelengths with higher frequencies and energy.
SOURCE AND ACCESS INFORMATION
Contributed by: Melissa Szentmiklosi
Name of Author/Source: Melissa Szentmiklosi
District/Organization of Contributor(s): Seminole
Is this Resource freely Available? Yes
Access Privileges: Public
License: CPALMS License - no distribution - non commercial
Related Standards
Name
SC.7.P.10.1:
Description
Illustrate that the sun's energy arrives as radiation with a wide range of wavelengths, including infrared, visible, and
ultraviolet, and that white light is made up of a spectrum of many different colors.
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