This project was all about light. The science part was about how it reflects and the math part was learning the Pythagorean theorem.
Both of these topics are related in this project because reflection is all about angles and the Pythagorean theorem measures angles.
In this project our task was in the end to make a laser pointer reflect off of mirrors to create a shape. The only limitation was that the shape had to have a right triangle in it. This is why we learned the Pythagorean theorem, to measure to see if the triangle was a right triangle.
We started by making a mind map about everything we thought we knew about light, mine looks like this:
We also added some questions we had about light in the mind map.
After doing this we started the project.
We learned about light and reflection and also about different types of mirrors, and at the same time we also were learning the Pythagorean theorem which is quite simple it’s just A² + B² = C².
After we had enough knowledge to do the task we started. It was a group project so it was easier. We started by going to a website individually and making a design of a right triangle that we could use for our project. Mine looks like this:
This was a website that allows you to simulate a laser being reflected off of a mirror, in this case we were making triangles using multiple mirrors. The one that we ended up using was a star shape that had multiple right triangles inside it. The next step was to make the laser display, so we copied our star onto a pice of paper and put the mirrors around it where we thought a laser would reflect, and trace the design. Then we got the actual laser and made a stand for it and turned it on. It didn’t line up right so we measured the angles and re-tried multiple times until the laser lined up correctly and made a star. Then we made a cardboard box and lined it with black construction paper then set up the mirrors and laser.
When everyone was done, we set up all of the displays and turned off the lights and used a smoke machine so that we could see the lasers better. In the end ours looked like this:
I was happy with how it turned out and I think that it was a very fun project to do. When we were done we looked back at our mind maps we did at the start and added more info to them. My final mind map looks like this:
Curricular Competencies
Applying and innovating:
I think I did this well in milestone 5 when we were building the actual design and finding the angles of the mirrors so that it would reflect properly. I think that I did this by sharing my ideas with my group and supporting other people’s ideas as well as solving problems we had along the way.
Communicating and Representing:
I think I did this well in milestone 6 when we actually presented to the class and saw each other’s creations and looked at how they worked. Also when I asked questions. about other people’s designs and when others asked me about mine.
Questioning and predicting:
I think I did this well in milestone 1 by making a mind map about what I thought I knew about light and predicting theories about things as well as questions that I wanted to know the answers. The mind map was a way to lay out some ideas that you can build off of so that we could actually complete the project.