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Soap Bubble Shapes
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Learners explore three-dimensional geometric frames including cubes and tetrahedrons, as they create bubble wands with pipe cleaners and drinking straws.

Pinhole Viewer
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In this activity, learners discuss and investigate how cameras, telescopes, and their own eyes use light in similar ways.

Earth's Energy Cycle: Albedo
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In this activity, learners experiment and observe how the color of materials that cover the Earth affects the amounts of sunlight our planet absorbs.

Beyond Dominoes: Polyominoes
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In this activity, learners add squares to paper dominoes to make polyominoes.

Eye Spy
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This fun activity uses simple materials such as milk cartons and mirrors to introduce the ideas of optics and visual perception.

Reflections
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In this activity, learners play a game and use pattern blocks to explore mirror images and reflection.

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.

Exploring Tessellations (Grades 3-5)
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In this activity, learners repeat patterns in two and three dimensions to create tessellations.

Build Your Own Solar Oven
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Learners follow directions to construct a solar oven that really cooks! The solar oven uses aluminum foil to reflect sunlight into a cooking chamber, which is painted black.

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.

Cut-Fold-Staple
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In this activity, learners discover how to rotate a flat shape into the third dimension. Learners draw and cut out a shape that has at least one straight edge on an index card.

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.

Symmetry Fold-Overs
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In this math activity, learners experiment with the concept of symmetry.

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.
Multiple Reflections
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In this activity, learners explore how mirrors reflect light and change the way we see things.

Pearlescent Pigments
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This is written as a display, but can easily be adapted to a hands-on activity. Learners observe and shake containers of shiny liquids.

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.

Exploring Tessellations (Grades K-2)
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In this activity, learners repeat patterns in two and three dimensions to create tessellations. This activity combines the creativity of an art project with the challenge of solving a puzzle.

Building Three-Dimensional (3D) Structures
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In this activity, learners practice drawing 3D structures in two dimensions. Learners draw cube stacks from five different points of view.

Reflecting on Diffraction
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With a laser pointer and some household items, learners can create their own laser light show. They can explore diffuse reflection, refraction and diffraction.