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Light and Sound
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In this four-part activity, learners explore light and sound through a variety of hands-on investigations.
Bending Light
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In this optics activity, learners make a lens and explore how the eye manipulates the light that enters it.
Bronx Cheer Bulb
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In this activity, learners observe what happens when they give a light source like a neon glow lamp a "Bronx Cheer." The lights appear to wiggle back and forth and flicker when learners blow air throu
Your Father's Nose
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In this fun optics activity, learners explore principles of light, reflection (mirrors), and perception. Learners work in pairs and sit on opposite sides of a "two-way" mirror.
Inverse Square Law
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In this math activity related to light, learners explore why a light, such as a candle or a streetlight, looks dimmer the farther away from it we get.
See the World Through Color-Filtering Lenses
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In this activity, learners examine how colored lenses act like filters and absorb all colors of light except for the color of the lenses.
Blue Sky
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In this optics activity, learners explore why the sky is blue and the sunset is red, using a simple setup comprising a transparent plastic box, water, and powdered milk.
Colored Shadows
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In this optics activity, learners discover that not all shadows are black. Learners explore human color perception by using colored lights to make additive color mixtures.
The Geophysical Light/Dark Cycle
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This is an activity (located on page 131 of the PDF) related to sleep and circadian rhythms as well as space travel.
Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.
Pinhole Magnifier
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In this activity related to light and perception, learners use a pinhole in an index card as a magnifying glass to help their eye focus on a nearby object.
Touch the Spring (Lightbulb)
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In this activity, a lightbulb is placed in front of a concave mirror. The actual lightbulb is not visible to the viewer, but the viewer can see the mirror image of the lightbulb formed in space.
Dark Adaptation
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In this activity (6th on the page), learners investigate how photoreceptors in the eye (rods and cones) "adapt" to low light conditions.
Do Plants Need Light?
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In this food science activity, learners conduct an experiment that demonstrates the importance of light to plants.
Pupil to Pupil
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In this quick and simple activity about reflexes (at the top of the webpage), learners conduct a simple test to explore pupillary response.
Cylindrical Mirror
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In this activity, learners create a cylindrical mirror to see themselves as others see them.
Benham’s Disk
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In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Light and Color Activity), learners will see the illusion of colors produced by a rotating black and white image known as Benham’s Disk.
Periscope
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In this optics activity, learners build a spy tool to secretly view things over walls or around corners.
Seeing Your Retina
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In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.
The Blind Spot
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In this activity (1st on the page), learners find their blind spot--the area on the retina without receptors that respond to light.