Using Technology to Teach Science!

Physical science lends itself to active, hands-on learning, and students also can use technology to learn more about physical science concepts. One key area of physical science deals with the concept of light. The core concept of light is that “light is electromagnetic radiation – energy – that interacts with matter” (Tillery, Enger, & Ross, 2008, p. 154). Light is a concept that is important to teach to students, as it is something that affects everyone in their daily lives. Light is also a key curricular standard in third grade for California students. The central concept for the standard is that students will know that “light has a source and travels in a direction” (California State Board of Education, 2003, p 17). Teaching students about light can be a challenging yet motivating instructional component of a classroom’s science curriculum.
One engaging website that I frequently use as an anticipatory set for my students is Brainpop. This website has numerous videos and interactive learning activities for many curricular areas as well as grade levels. I located several Brainpop lessons on light, and these lessons can be accessed at http://www.brainpop.com/search/search.weml?keyword=light. From this site, teachers can engage their students and access background knowledge about light. There is a subscription fee, which can be costly as it is $195.00 for one classroom; however, if alternate funding can be utilized to provide Brainpop for an entire school, which costs $995.00, it is a very worthwhile site for educators. Brainpop is a comprehensive site that can be used for formative assessment via its interactive quizzes. It also is visually appealing to students and has colorful videos and graphics, which can help support learning for students who are learning English as well as for students who need information presented in a variety of modalities.
Another site that has proven to be very popular with my students is How Stuff Works, and some interesting information about light can be accessed via the link http://www.how
stuffworks.com/light/htm. There are visual representations of light spectrums as well as kid-friendly information about light. Videos and links to other light-related sites make this site a well-rounded, well-researched site for students who need information for science experiments or reports. It also includes interesting facts about how glow-in-the-dark materials work and how a light bulb is manufactured, as well as information on lasers and light sticks. By using this site, students can learn how to research information and utilize the Internet to access data for scientific learning.
In order to create hands-on learning activities for students, teachers need access to ideas for experiments and investigations. One online site that I have found to be very helpful is the website called “Kids’ Science Experiments” which can be accessed via the link http://www.
kids-science-experiments.com/index.html. There are numerous categories of experiments and within the light category I have found two that are particularly fun and engaging for my students. One is about bending light and can be located at http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/
bendinglightinthedark.html. The other experiment focuses on reflecting light and can be found at http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/bouncingspotlight.html. Both experiments utilize simple, everyday materials and yet convey important scientific concepts to students in a way that helps them gain a better understanding of light.
Another website that has a collection of experiments for students is called “Science Kids: Bringing Science and Technology Together” which can be found at http://www.sciencekids.co.
nz/experiments/lightcolorheat.html. It provides teachers with numerous activities that can easily be done in a classroom and it also has experiments which can be adapted to lead to more inquiry-based instruction. For example, an experiment on light absorption instructs students to wrap a piece of white paper and a piece of black paper over jars of water to see which one shows the greatest increase in temperature. This experiment could be extended via the use of questioning techniques and then using the questions generated by students to lead them to a more in-depth exploration of the concept of light.
Another website that combines scientific information about light with hands-on activities to reinforce learning is called “Teachers’ Lab: The Science of Light” and is available at http://
www.learner.org/teacherslab/science/light/index.html. The site’s segment on light begins with an introduction about the basic concepts of light and then proceeds to discuss the role of light in color as well as the laws of light. Each section has correlating hands-on activities to try, either online or in the classroom. Students can read about the information and then use the activities to reinforce and graphically represent what they have learned.
I plan on doing several of these experiments with my third-graders this year. I also want to do an activity that I learned about from a colleague who uses lasers and fog machines to reinforce the idea of reflection. Students try to create “pathways” using lasers and mirrors, and the fog machines allow them to easily see the path of the laser.
It might be challenging to do some of these activities in my classroom because I am going to have 27 regular ed students along with 2 special ed students who are integrated into my class for science instruction. Ensuring sufficient materials as well as supervising for safety procedures could be difficult. I will start with relatively easy hands-on activities in order to reinforce proper behavior and expectations at the beginning of the school year.

References
Brainpop (2010). Brainpop search. Retrieved on August 6, 2010 from http://www.brainpop.
com/search/search.weml?keyword=light
Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: Essentials of classroom practice. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.
Freudenrich, Ph.D., Craig (2000). How light works. HowStuffWorks.com. Retrieved on August
7, 2010 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/light.htm
Kids’ Science Experiments (2008). Retrieved from http://www.kids-science-experiments.
com/index.html
State of California (2003). California State Board of Education. Science content standards for
California public schools: Kindergarten through grade twelve. Retrieved from http://
www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/sciencestnd/pdf
Teachers’ Lab (2010). The science of light. Annenberg Media. Retrieved from http://www.
learner.org/teacherslab/science/light/index.html.
Tillery, B., Enger, E., & Ross. F. (2008). Integrated science (4th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.