🔦 Investigating Shadows in Science

This week in Science, Year 6 explored the fascinating question: What causes shadows?

To begin our lesson, we recapped our understanding of different types of materials. We discussed opaque, translucent and transparent objects and considered how each one interacts with light. We remembered that opaque materials block light completely, translucent materials allow some light through, and transparent materials let light pass through clearly.

Next, we became scientists and carried out our own investigations using torches. Working collaboratively, we shone light onto different objects to create shadows and observed what happened. We discovered that opaque objects produced the clearest shadows because they blocked the light source.

We then took our investigation a step further by exploring how the length and size of shadows can change. Using our torches, we moved the light source closer to and further away from objects and carefully observed the effects. We found that when the light source was closer, the shadows became larger, and when it was moved further away, the shadows became smaller. This helped us understand how the position of a light source affects the shadow that is formed.

It was a practical and engaging lesson that allowed us to test our ideas, make observations and draw conclusions from our findings. We are looking forward to building on our knowledge of light and continuing our scientific investigations in the coming weeks! 🌞🔦🕶️

Science Vocabulary: Opaque • Translucent • Transparent • Light Source • Shadow • Reflection • Observation • Prediction