WEB KIE PROJECT

How Far Does Light Go?
by Philip Bell

"How Far Does Light Go?" is a debate project which engages students in an examination of the scientific properties of light by engaging them with relevant evidence from the Web. It culminates in an informal classroom debate where groups present their arguments about how far light goes and respond to questions from other students. The project takes approximately six fifty-minute periods to complete with 30 students as it is described here.

This project has been used in middle and high school physical science classes. It works very well as a culminating project where students have spent significant time learning about various properties of light through previous instruction.

As a culminating project on the topic of light, it is an opportunity for students to pull together and connect ideas about various scientific concepts about light including:

• light reflection off of objects
• scattering off of objects (diffuse reflection)
• light absorption and energy conversion
• energy conservation
• light intensity over distance
• light detection equipment (e.g., telescopes)
• vision

Students are also learning about critiquing evidence and how to relate it to their scientific ideas. They do this by making an argument for one of the two theories being compared. As they interpret and critique evidence, they are asked to think about: (a) the science involved with explaining the evidence, (b) the methods used to create the evidence, and (c) the credibility of the source of the evidence.

Sample of Student Work

As part of this project, students create arguments which they present to the class during the debate. Their arguments consist of written explanations associating pieces of evidence to the debate. Click on the link below to see a sample argument created by some students from a previous version of the project.