Lenses and Perception: Investigations with Light

Abstract

The main goals of these activities are to help students learn how a convex lens can serve as a magnifying lens and how light travels and creates images. These explorations will introduce middle school students to different types of lenses and how they work. Students will observe and describe how lenses bend light that passes through them and how the distance of a lens from an object can make an object appear smaller or larger. In the photography activity, students will investigate how a camera works. This study of the camera leads to discussing the similarities and differences between science and technology. Is it possible to separate them? Do they feed into each other?

Keywords:

• camera
• lens
• light
• middle school
• refraction