PIPS2 Class Activity : Look for/discuss examples of sources of light found in school and at home. Make collage of pictures of these examples either drawn or cut out from magazines. Discuss why we need light sources.

Homework Activity :
Look around your house for an object that gives out light. It must not use mains electricity. Please bring your object into school when we will test them to see if they do give out light.

Follow-up to Homework Activity :
In a dark room test objects to see if they do give out light Discuss findings.

My Primary 2 class brought in different sizes of torches, candles, pens that lit up, glow in the dark stars and a fibre optic light. Due to Health and Safety we did not light up the candles, but all agreed that they would give out light – some also able to tell me they would give out heat energy too. Torches all worked to differing degrees and while discussing why they were different, one girl asked ‘I wonder which torch gives out the most light. This stimulated more discussion and the decision to test them by switching each one on individually and counting how many people we could see. Glow in the dark stars were also of great interest, as we could see them but they did not give out any useful light. Nobody brought in anything that did not light up, but I did have safety reflector badges to demonstrate that these were only effective when light was present and were not a source of light.

Evaluation of Homework Activity :
Easy activity to set up, stimulated lots of scientific discussion. Children taking control of their own learning as the idea of testing the torches came from them, not teacher directed. Good way to evaluate children’s understanding of the concepts.

Susan Tollick
Torbain Primary School, Kirkcaldy