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In this activity, learners create a simple “top” from a CD, marble and bottle cap, and use it as a spinning platform for a variety of illusion-generating patterns.

In this experiment, learners work in teams to investigate how the color of a surface influences its ability to reflect light and therefore heat.

In this activity, learners explore what happens when polarized white light passes through a sugar solution.

In this lab (Activity #1 on page), learners explore how we see color.

In this optics activity, learners explore diffraction by adding wax blocks to a ripple tank. The wedge-shaped blocks act as obstacles that the wave must bend around.

In this activity, learners test the Law of Reflection based on experimental evidence. Learners produce raw data and explanations based on their data: pencil tracings of incident and reflection rays.

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

Have you ever heard of a camera without a lens? In this activity, learners create a pinhole camera out of simple materials. They'll see the world in a whole new way: upside down and backwards!

How can you make one shade of gray look like two? By putting it against two different color backgrounds! This activity allows learners to perform this sleight of hand very easily.

In this activity, learners explore liquid crystals, light and temperature. Using a postcard made of temperature-sensitive liquid crystal material, learners monitor temperature changes.

In this activity, learners use a compact disc to make a spectrometer, an instrument used to measure properties of light.

In this optics activity, learners explore interference by adding wax blocks to a ripple tank.

In this activity, learners use clear nail polish to create a beautiful iridescent pattern on black paper. Learners discover that a thin film creates iridescent, rainbow colors.

In this activity, learners experience firsthand how marine animals' adaptive coloration camouflages them from prey.

In this activity, learners use Jell-O to explore lenses. Learners cut Jell-O into convex and concave lens shapes and examine how light exits each lens in a darkened room.

In this activity, learners trap a thin layer of air between two pieces of Plexiglas to produce rainbow-colored interference patterns.