Light Energy Unit: Science Stations/Centers or Labs, Activities & Experiments

This deluxe light energy unit includes five labs that can be set up as stations or centers, a full-blown experiment, extension activities, review, and assessment. Your kids will love the hands-on investigation – and you will too!

This is the science unit you’ve been waiting for.

• Working in stations or centers saves time and uses less materials.
• Directions for each project are simple and easy to follow. Kids can work independently!
• Kids become engaged in fun activities that build understanding of light energy concepts.
• Most materials can be found in your home or classroom.
• It includes everything you need for a quick, comprehensive science unit: activities, extensions, review, and test.

Open the preview to take a closer look at the activities, which use the 5E Model.

Engage: A pretest gets kids thinking about light energy.

Explore: Using inquiry, students explore properties of light energy. For each guiding question, they explore two or three simple (but powerful) activities and draw conclusions. These can be conducted as stations, centers, or labs.

• How does light travel? Kids use mirrors and a flashlight to discover that it travels in a straight line and bounces off of hard, shiny materials.
• Which materials are transparent, translucent, opaque? They shine a flashlight toward a wall. They place a variety of materials in the path of the flashlight to determine which allow all, some, or none of the light through.
• Which materials reflect light? Students shine a flashlight on a variety of materials to determine which reflect and which absorb.
• What is refraction? Kids observe how water bends light through three situations: a pencil in a cup of water, a penny in an opaque cup, and a drop of water above typed letters.
• What is color? They split light into the visible spectrum using a prism or CD and bubbles.

Explain: Kids clarify science concepts with a reading passage and videos.

• They deepen their knowledge with a short article. Then they answer questions.
• Then they explore videos. They reinforce basic concepts from the stations, centers, or labs. Additionally, they get rid of any misconceptions kids still may have.

Elaborate: Five cool extension projects add pizzazz to your energy unit.

• Making White Light 1 – Kids cover flashlights with cellophane sheets. Then they shine them on white paper and find that the intersection of yellow, blue, and red makes white.
• Making White Light 2 – On an old CD, kids add alternating yellow, red, and blue paper. When they place the CD on a marble and spin it, the colors merge to form white.
• Separating Colors with Chromatography Experiment – Using a fair test, students experiment with different colors of washable markers. They discover that black pigment is made of all the colors of the rainbow.
• Shadows 1 – Just for fun, let kids make shadows with their hands. Twelve different pictures guide them. All you need is a bright light.
• Shadows 2 – For a more serious (but just as fun) activity, students use sidewalk to trace one another’s shadows over the course of the day. This illustrates the Sun’s apparent movement through the sky.

Evaluate: Students review and take a posttest. Flash cards and a study guide help them study. Then they take a simple test. It consists of true-false questions on concepts and matching vocabulary with definitions.

Files include all the pages you’ll need to teach light energy:

• Lesson plans
• Complete directions for every lab/station/center
• Student lab sheets
• Station/center signs
• Flash cards
• Study guide
• Assessment (pretest and posttest) with answer keys
• Pictorial directions for extensions
• Lab sheet for chromatography experiment

For the science stations/centers/labs, activities, and experiment, you’ll also need some materials. Most can be found in your classroom or home. (I picked up the mirrors and flashlights at the local dollar store. Once I collected everything, I stored it in gallon-sized Ziploc baggies for the next year.)

• 4 mirrors
• 4 flashlights
• Paper
• Pencils
• Clear cup
• Opaque cup
• Hard-backed book
• Transparent, translucent, and opaque materials
• Materials that reflect and do not reflect light
• Penny
• Wax paper
• Eye dropper
• Prism and/or CD
• Bubbles
• Crayons

If you’d like to do the extensions, you’ll also need:

• Colored cellophane sheets
• Construction paper
• Rubber bands
• CDs
• Tape
• Marbles
• Plastic cups
• Coffee filters
• Washable markers
• Scissors
• Sidewalk chalk

Yep, these activities take some set up. But it’s worth it!! Your students or homeschool group will love this unit – and so will you!

• Engagement is at an all-time high as kids explore science concepts with hands-on labs.
• When they do the projects themselves, students truly understand properties of light energy.
• Activities address the intent of your standards. For example, if you teach, NGSS 4-PS3-2 or Texas TEKS SCI.5.6.A or 5.6.C, you can rest assured that students will understand the transfer of radiant energy.

Listen to what other educators are saying about these resources.

• “My students loved the activities. I loved how much they were learning with very little prep. Hands on learning is always great when it comes to science. My students understand light so much better now.” – Jill U.
• “My students were very engaged in the hands-on labs outlined in this resource. The labs were easy to pull together with materials that we had on hand in the classroom for the most part. Loved having the information that is provided just for the teacher.” – Kyra C.

Printable and digital versions of each worksheet are included.

• A PDF provides a traditional pencil and paper option.
• Easel Activities or forced Google Slides offer digital versions.

Looking for more? Check out the forms of energy bundle.

Enjoy teaching!

Brenda Kovich