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Light Maze
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In this activity, learners will explore light with reflective surfaces. Learners will make predictions and share their observations as they experiment with directing a beam of light.

Bent Toward Science: Refraction
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This is an activity about the behavior of light. Using simple, everyday objects, learners will discover that light moves in straight lines until acted upon by another object.

The Old White Sheet Trick: Light and Insect Behavior
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In this outdoor, nighttime activity, learners gather around a brightly lit, white surface and study the behavior of nocturnal animals attracted to the light, particularly night fliers.

Pictures From Light
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Did you know that using a lens one can bend light to make pictures of the world? It's true!

Bubbularium: See the Colors in Bubbles
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With little more than a flashlight, a straw, and a plastic lid, make an observatory so you can see the amazing colors in bubbles.

Make a UV Detector
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In this activity, learners use tonic water to detect ultraviolet (UV) light from the Sun and explore the concept of fluorescence.

Slide Projector Activities
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This resource contains several mini-explorations using a slide projector as a light source to investigate light and the properties of images.

On the Fringe (formerly Bridge Light)
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In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.

Phantom Phlame
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In this trick, hold your hand over a burning candle without getting burned, by reflecting and transmitting the light of two candles. This activity is best suited as a demonstration.

Make a Prism
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In this activity, learners will make their own prism and use a glass of water to separate sunlight into different colors.

Up Periscope!
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This activity provides instructions for building a mirrored tube--a smaller and simpler version of a submarine's periscope--that lets you see around corners and over walls.

Big Wave
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This is an activity about waves. Using marbles, paper clips and rubber bands, learners explore how waves behave.

Benham’s Disk
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In this activity (on page 2 of the PDF under GPS: Light and Color Activity), learners will see the illusion of colors produced by a rotating black and white image known as Benham’s Disk.

Seeing Your Retina
Source Institutions
In this quick optics activity, learners use a dim point of light (a disassembled Mini MagLite and dowel set-up) to cast a shadow of the blood supply in their retina onto the retina itself.

Colors of Stars
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In this activity, learners observe colors in the flame of a burning candle to explore connections between matter, light, color and temperature -- basic concepts of matter and energy.

Build the Big Dipper
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Learners use simple materials to construct a model the Big Dipper. Learners hang the model from a doorway or ceiling and look up at it to see the constellation as seen from Earth.

Kaleid-o-mania
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In this hands-on activity, learners build their own kaleidoscopes and explore how light can reflect of off surfaces such as mirrors, to produce beautiful patterns.

Measure the Sun's Size
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In this activity, learners make their own pinhole viewer in order to measure the size of the sun.
Multiple Reflections
Source Institutions
In this activity, learners explore how mirrors reflect light and change the way we see things.

Hot Air
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In this activity, learners set up an experiment to investigate the effects of hot air on the path of a laser beam.