Sixth graders have quickly discovered that light doesn't just reflect/scatter off objects or transmit through them. Some of the light is also absorbed by an object, too. We recognized this by comparing the data from an investigation involving clear and colored water. If both waters received the same amount of light, why is it that they reflect and transmit different amounts of light? Do they also do something differently with the light?
We extended our thinking to be able to represent how light interacts with various materials in our classroom, and how we could mathematically show this relationship. Since we're focusing on modeling in our "Can I Believe My Eyes?" unit, creating a mathematical model for how light interacts with various objects seemed incredibly fitting!
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