Exploring Light

This is an Exploratorium Teacher Institute professional development course open to any science teacher (particularly middle or high school level) and light enthusiast. Participants will engage in hands-on STEM activities that allow them to directly experience natural phenomena and gain an understanding of how the Exploratorium helps people learn.

About the Course
A hallmark of the Exploratorium Teacher Institute is that we have developed hundreds of "snacks" over the years: hands-on teaching activities (thoroughly tested by students and teachers) that explore scientific phenomena using easy-to-obtain materials. Throughout the class, we'll share some of our favorite snacks and ask you to try them out at home.

This course is designed as a hands-on workshop that explores various strategies middle- and high-school teachers can use to help their students investigate light. We will start by examining light perception, then we'll take a brief historical tour of our evolving scientific understanding. We’ll then look at optics and optical instruments, and finish by looking at modern views of light as a wave and a particle.

To get the most out of this experience, you'll have to try out some activities! In return, you'll get lots of valuable teaching resources, an in-depth understanding of the subject matter, and useful tips and techniques for the classroom.

NOTE: Because this is a hands-on workshop, you will need to buy or find materials for this course. All of the materials required are inexpensive and should be easy to obtain. We'll send out a complete list with recommended sources before the course begins.

Week One: Perception
To understand light, we must understand how our eyes and brain perceive and make sense of it. We’ll look at illusions that illuminate how the eye and the brain use light to construct models of the natural world.



Week Two: Optics

Make images using lenses and mirrors, and do a deep dive into the fascinating world of optics. 



Week Three: What is light? A historical tour

Explore the nature of light by doing simple modern versions of classical experiments following light from particle to wave to quantum object.



Week Four: The wave nature of light

Explore the modern view of light: see light as a wave and as a photon.

If you wish to earn a Statement of Accomplishment, you'll need to take what you’ve learned in this class and submit a mini-lesson for peer review and evaluation. You can adapt one of our activities or come up with your own, but you must try things out! In return, you'll get valuable feedback and tips from the instructors and other students in the class.