K-2 Youth Experiences in Biophotonics
“Hands-on science activities designed for children five to eight years of age enrolled in after school and child care programs"
Session One: Light Matters
Purpose: During this session the children will be given a quick preview of some of the fun activities that will be taking place during the next 8 weeks as well as participate in several activities that focus on:
- Exploring interactions between light and life through hands-on activities.
- Experimenting with a variety of light sources and observe the type of light different plants and animals need to live.
- Encouraging them to generate ideas and strengthen reasoning skills.
Session Two: Starting with the Sun
Purpose: The children will be exploring the importance of the sun and its relationship to plants by:
- Experimenting with sunlight in a variety of ways and observe how different living things respond to sunlight.
- Exploring the differing sunlight needs of plants and other living things
- Generating their own ideas about the sun and strengthening their reasoning skills.
- Becoming familiar with the science processes of "Experimenting " and "Predicting"
Session Three: Day & Night
Purpose: The activities in this session lead the children through a variety of experiences that focus on how:
- our eyes respond to light and the sun, how
- the routine of daily living revolves around the sun,
- plants depend on the sun to grow.
Session Four: Shadowville
Purpose: This session is designed to introduce and engage children in experiencing light and shadow&particularly how shadows change through movement, the angle of light and the surface they fall upon through a clever story and art activity as well as outdoor games and activities.
Session Five: Shadows Inside
Purpose:This session provides four engaging activities, including theater arts and food preparation, which give the children the opportunity to:
- Compare different materials that block or admit light
- Experiment with creating different kinds of shadows
- Make shadow puppets and create and present a skit
- Use shadow designs to decorate a cake
Note: The activities in this session are ideal for rainy or cloudy days
Session Six: Color My World
Purpose:Through the creative activities of this session the children will explore how color effects the way we see and the way animals see. They also learn how animals use color for deception and protection.
Session Seven: Power of Light
Purpose: The experiment-based activities of this session give the children the opportunity to explore
- The relationship between light and color
- The relationship between heat absorption and color.
Session Eight: Light Entertainment
Purpose: The activities of this session reinforce and elaborate on several of the concepts introduced in Session Five. They offer the children additional experiences related to:
- Differences in the opaque/translucent qualities of objects & materials
- Using shadow puppets as a performing art
- Coloring techniques for representing shadows in art work
- Identifying different sources of light that we use in our daily life
