Grade 10 Optics

I have developed a set of activities involving a light-box which produces several parallel rays of light to shine across a piece of paper on a flat surface.  These activities range in the level of challenge, with many appropriate for Grade 10: Light and Geometric Optics.  We will use flat and curved transparent blocks and flat and curved mirrors to reflect and bend light rays.  Activities include: Bending light rays, Combining colours to form white light, How the eye works, Making rainbows with a prism, Reflection, Refraction and Total-internal reflection.

Jason Harlow completed his undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Toronto in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Penn State University in 2000. He spent several years teaching undergraduate physics and astronomy courses at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, before returning to U of T. Jason is now a Senior Lecturer in the Physics Department at U of T, which is part of the Teaching Stream Faculty. His main area of interest these days is in Physics Education Research, and how to best help students learn.

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