Light and sight: true or false?
In this activity, students participate in an interactive ‘true or false’ activity that highlights common alternative conceptions about light and sight. This activity can be done individually, in pairs or as a whole class. A paper-based version is included in the download.
By the end of this activity, students should be able to:
clarify some of their current views about light and sight
provide evidence to support their current views
debate ideas with others who hold different views that may challenge their current thinking
investigate some key light concepts including how light travels and how we see things.
...unless we know what children think and why they think that way, we have little chance of making any impact with our teaching no matter how skilfully we proceed.
Osborne & Freyberg, 1985, p.13
Light and sight: true or false? – graphic organiser
True
False
Not sure
Unused items
- Light from the Sun can travel further than light from a candle
- Cats can’t see anything at all in a totally darkened room
- We can only see things that are making light
- Light keeps travelling until it hits something
- Light from the Sun takes over 8 minutes to reach the Earth
- A shadow is a dark reflection
- For us to see things, light has to enter our eyes
- A pencil appears to bend in water because the water bends it
- We see things as light travels from our eyes to an object
- A lens helps to form images because it bends light
- Light from a candle does not travel as far during the daytime
- A red object looks red because it only reflects red light
Light and sight: true or false? – graphic organiser
Use this interactive graphic organiser to help highlight some common alternative conceptions about light and sight. Place each label where you think it belongs. This activity can be done individually, in pairs or as a whole class.
Download the Word file (see link below) for:
introduction/background notes
what you need
what to do
extension ideas
student handout.
Related content
This article introduces common student alternative conceptions about light based on education research.
Useful link
This page from the Australian education website (Victoria Department of Education and Training) outlines information about concept maps and the building of scientific concepts, including waves.
