Pre-Lesson Preparation

Because this lesson will make use of the color cards, there is no need for any code but Marty must have a color sensor installed on one foot.

Warm-Up

Share with learners the objectives and success criteria for the day's lesson, from slide 2 of the presentation in the educator resource section; perhaps display this before the lesson starts and keep it displayed until another slide is needed.

Play a 'What's the object' game at group tables or stations.

Below is the procedure for the game

Preparation:

Choose one person to be the one that will have their eyes closed and will be the guesser. Have a selection of objects for each group contained within a non-see-through bag: enough objects so that each member of the group will have an opportunity to guess.

1. Have one learner from the group reach into the bag, without looking, and place it under a cover, like a hand towel or other covering; the person choosing the object should show that one thing to the rest of the group except the guesser.

2. The guesser will not be able to see the item as light will not reflect off the object for them.

3. The guesser can use their hands to explore the object while it is under the cover and can ask questions of the group members.

4. The rest of the group needs to answer the questions asked without saying what the object is.

5. The guesser can have three attempts to guess what is covered. Three is an arbitrary number and can be increased or decreased as suits your class.

Over the course of the game, highlight the difference between the guessers and the rest of the group. The object is covered just now, blocking light so we cannot see it but before the object was placed under the cover, we could see it because light shone on it.

Get Learning

Have learners tell you about the effect of the cover on the objects. Allow for time to discuss as a whole class. Ask learners what they think would happen if they used a different kind of cover for the objects. Learners might say that they still wouldn't be able to see it because the object would be covered, the investigations today will explore this further. Ask learners to think about how much light we need to see something. Ask learners if they think they can describe what they can see over the course of a day.

Show slides 3 and 4 from the presentation. Each of these shows a time-lapse video over a day and night or night and day. One video is a city scene, and the other is a country scene. While watching the video, take time to pause and ask what learners can see. Specifically, ask about details like colors or parts of an object. When they cannot see all the details, ask what is missing that previously allowed them to see all the details. The sun. Ask, "What does the sun give us?" Light, they may also answer heat. "That's right, the light shines on objects and lets us see them. Why couldn't we see the objects under the material (or name the material, a towel, for example)?" The material blocked the light from shining off the object.

Share with learners a variety of different materials that have a range of transparency from clear to entirely opaque. The lesson should not focus on vocabulary - like transparent, translucent, or opaque - but rather on more familiar words: I can see through it, I can see through it but it isn't very clear, or I cannot see through it.

Have learners explore with each experience viewing the room through the variety of materials. As a class, you might think of some words to describe the scale of light that can be sensed when looking through the various materials. Record the descriptions on the board so that learners can access this, later in the lesson.

Time for Practice

Present Marty to learners. Let learners know that we are going to look at what Marty can see with their color sensor. Place the five color cards on a table or on the floor in an open area for all learners to see. With Marty in unplugged mode, place them on each of the color cards to remind learners of what happens. Perhaps create a route so that Marty can move from one card through to the last card.

Pose the question of, "How much light do you think Marty is getting just now? What do you think we could do to change the amount of light Marty senses with his color sensor?" Point to the color sensor on his foot and the Sensing Element - the black part under their foot that you can see through the hole at the top of this image, which is usually the front of the foot. "This is Marty's color sensor. This is how they see the color cards that we place under their foot."

Share with learners, "I wonder if we could discover how much light Marty needs to see the color under their foot. Before we begin, we will need to prepare an experiment so that we can record what we see in a scientific way."

Distribute the experiment page from the Learner Resources. Learners will need to use some of the words recorded on the board and choose from the materials to use in the light experiment with Marty. Inform learners that they will need to choose an idea they must prove. Let them know that the materials they looked at, and through, earlier will help them to complete the experiment.

See how Marty can have their sensor covered by the materials. There are 4 videos here showing Marty progressing from without an object blocking light to an object fully blocking the light

Learners will work in their groups to discover how much light Marty needs to properly sense the color, can they see through the plastic, the tracing paper, the writing paper? Include other materials you may like to experiment with and change the experiment page to accommodate the changes.

Cool Down

Bring learners back together to discuss if they found anything interesting about light and what we can see.

Suggested questions you might ask:

• What do we need to be able to see objects around us?
• When we put things over our eyes, what happened?
• What did Marty need to be able to see the colors properly?
• What stopped Marty from seeing the color cards? Learners may suggest that the materials blocked the light but that may require some more work.
• What other materials do you think Marty might be able to see through that we could test later?

If you use a formative assessment strategy, like thumbs up or thumbs down, use that here to get a feel for learner confidence with the topic.

Carry out any end of lesson routines.