Materials and Light

In this unit, students explore the science phenomena of light and the relationship between sight and light. In this lesson, students carry out an investigation to observe how materials with different properties interact with light in various ways. They analyze how much light passes through different materials, and then investigate how the path of a flashlight’s beam of light changes when it comes into contact with a mirror. This page showcases each component of this lesson.

Science Background for Teachers:

The science background provides teachers with more complex information about the phenomena students study in this unit, in this case, materials and light.

Whether a material is opaque, transparent, or translucent depends on its properties, which in turn depends on its atomic structure. Most objects reflect light off of their surface and into our eyes. To reflect means to bounce off of. This is how we see. Sight is a sense that uses the eyes to take in light information about an object’s position, shape, and color.

Without light reflecting off of different objects and into our eyes, we cannot see. This is why cave explorers such as Dave Bunnell bring their own light, including headlamps and flashlights, as they descend deep underground. If these explorers were to turn off their light sources, they would be completely in the dark and therefore unable to see anything around them.

The eye, which is the part of the body used for sight, turns the light that has reflected off of different objects into images that allow us to pinpoint objects in space and to identify their colors and shapes. The difference between materials that are transparent, translucent, or opaque has to do with how light reflects off of a surface and into the eyes.

Supports Grade 1

Science Lesson: Considering Materials and Light

In this lesson, students carry out two investigations to observe how materials with different properties interact with light in various ways.

Science Big Ideas

  • Materials can be opaque, transparent, or translucent.  
  • Light passes through different materials in different ways.

Sample Unit CTA-2
Discover Complete Hands-on Screens-off Core Science Curriculum for K-8 Classrooms

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Science Essential Questions

  • What are sources of light?
  • Does light pass through materials the same way?
  • What has to happen to be able to see the walls of a dark cave?
  • Why aren’t windows made of opaque materials?
  • How are transparent materials different from translucent materials?
  • Why can you see your image in a mirror?  
  • How do mirrors change the light beam from a flashlight?

Common Science Misconceptions

Misconception: As long as we have eyes, we can see.
Fact: For an object to be seen, it must reflect light. We see different colors and textures because of how light bounces off of different materials and into our eyes.
Misconception: The ability to see is separate from the presence of light. We can sometimes see objects when there is no source of light.
Fact: All sight occurs because of how light reflects off of different objects. Without a source of light, we cannot see.

Science Vocabulary

Opaque: a material that blocks all light

Reflect: to bounce off of

Sight: the sense that uses the eyes to take in light information about an object’s position, shape, and color

Rransparent: a material that light passes through completely

Rranslucent: a material that some, but not all, light passes through

Lexile(R) Certified Non-Fiction Science Reading (Excerpt)

A Reflective Salt Flat

Luca Galuzzi travels the world. He takes pictures of what he sees. On one trip, he stood on top of a giant salt flat. This is a wide-open area covered with salt. When water covers it, this area becomes the world’s largest natural mirror.

Objects Reflect Light

The sky appears to be on the ground. This is because of how the water in the salt flat reflects light. To reflect means to bounce off of. All objects reflect some light. This is how we see them. Light reflects off of the object and into our eyes.

Some objects reflect more light than other objects. Shiny, smooth objects reflect more light than dull or rough objects. Light-colored objects also reflect more light than dark-colored objects.

Some objects reflect light in a way that lets you see images on their surface. This is what happens with mirrors. When you look in a mirror, your image reflects back. It is also what happens with the water in the salt flat.

 
 

Hands-on Science Activity

This lesson has two investigations. In the first investigation, students plan and carry out an investigation to help them answer the focus question: “Does light pass through all materials the same way?” In the second investigation, students explore the focus question: “How do mirrors change the light beam from a flashlight?” Students work collaboratively as a class to develop a procedure that uses the available materials to test their prediction about the answer to the question. Then, students investigate how a flashlight’s beam of light changes when it comes into contact with a mirror.

Science Assessments

KnowAtom incorporates formative and summative assessments designed to make students thinking visible for deeper student-centered learning.

  • Vocabulary Check
  • Lab Checkpoints
  • Concept Check Assessment 
  • Concept Map Assessment 
  • And More...

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Science Standards

See How KnowAtom Aligns to NGSS Science Standards

Discover hands-on screens-off core science curriculum for student centered K-8 classrooms. KnowAtom supports classrooms with all hands-on materials, curriculum, and professional development to support mastery of the standards.

Download the Alignment to NGSS

Standards citation: NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.