TED Talks
Ted: Ted Ed: The Story Behind Your Glasses
Video describes the developments and advancements in the history of the study of optics. [4:17] Includes a short quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.
Science Buddies
Science Buddies: Career Profile: Physicist
Physicist as a career is a very broad spectrum. This site from Science Buddies relates the general requirements and education needed to be a physicist and lists the many sub-fields in which physicists can specialize. Included is a video...
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Optical Quantum Control
Explore an active area of research in optical physics: producing designer pulse shapes to achieve specific purposes, such as breaking apart a molecule.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Geometric Optics
An interactive simulation that teaches about refraction, lens, and optics. Students manipulate the focal length of the lens, and move the object, lens, and screen in order to see how the image is affected. This simulation can either be...
Other
Institute of Physics: Practical Physics
Access hundreds of teacher-tested, practical physics lessons on this well-organized, illustrated site. Find just the right demonstration, attention-grabber, or lab for any physics teaching objective at your fingertips.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Bending Light
Manipulate variables and measure angles as light is refracted in this interactive simulation.
University of Colorado
University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Bending Light
Explore bending of light between two media with different indices of refraction. See how changing from air to water to glass changes the bending angle. Play with prisms of different shapes and make rainbows.
TeachEngineering
Teach Engineering: Pictures Please: Traveling Light
In this instructional activity, students learn that light travels in a straight line from a light source and that ray diagrams help us understand how an image will be created by a lens. In the accompanying activity, students explore the...
![Girl Scouts of the Usa: Lighten Up! Discovering the Science of Light [Pdf] Activity](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Girl Scouts of the Usa: Lighten Up! Discovering the Science of Light [Pdf] Activity")
Other
Girl Scouts of the Usa: Lighten Up! Discovering the Science of Light [Pdf]
A 36-page booklet of activities and experiments for exploring the properties of and nature of light. Includes a section on careers in optics. As this is a Girl Scouts booklet, it was created with girls in mind, but would be equally...
Science Struck
Science Struck: A Comprehensive List of All the Physics Formulas
Provides a long list of physics formulas for easy reference.
Optical Society
Optical Society of America: Exploring the Science of Light: What Is Optics?
A collection of tutorials and interactive resources, from basic to advanced, that explain concepts related to the science of light.
Physics Central
American Physical Society: Physics Central: Discover Homepage
Link to nine major physics topics and dig deeper into the content. Find out about the work of scientists in each field and see example physical science experiments.
Georgia State University
Georgia State University: Hyper Physics: Behavior of Incident Light
This site from Georgia State University is an indexing page for several other pages on the topic of reflection. Topics are treated in an understandable manner and utilize meaningful graphics.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: Resources: Video Demonstrations in Lasers and Optics
Several demonstrations shown in a video lecture format, illustrate the theory and applications of lasers and optics.
University of Maryland
Optics Highlights: The Microscope
Part of an anecdotal history of optics and the study of light. Extremely thorough treatment of the scientific findings and developments which led to the invention and refinement of the microscope. Includes a short biographical sketch and...
Wolfram Research
Wolfram Science World: Maxwell, James
This ScienceWorld site describes the Scottish mathematician and physicist James Maxwell (1831-1879) who published physical and mathematical theories of the electromagnetic field.
University of Toronto (Canada)
University of Toronto: Flash Animations for Physics
This site boasts an extensive list of physics animations that cover topics such as electricity, magnetism, quantum mechanics, and relativity. Variables can be manipulated for each demonstration.
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College
Serc: Light & Sound, Light Reflection Relay
In this exploration, students will investigate how light reflects off smooth surfaces, learn about angles of reflection, and apply that knowledge in a relay experiment.
University of Wisconsin
The Why Files: Terrific Telescopes
Why? File provides insight into four advances in telescope technology as well as shows how they are "improving our harvest of cosmic understanding."
My Science Site
Mirrors, Lenses and Your Eyes
This resource explores the science behind light and how mirrors reflect it. Also contains information on lenses both convex and concave.
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College: Rene Descartes (1596 1650)
Events of Rene Descartes' life are presented in a timeline form. The biographical information is taken from "A Short Account of the History of Mathematics" by W. W. Rouse Ball (4th Edition, 1908).
Other
The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation
The home page of the The James Clerk Maxwell Foundation, a charitable foundation to commemorate the life and work of James Clerk Maxwell. View Maxwell's house and read about the personal life of this notable scientist.
Other
Sherman Visual Lab: Physics Lab
Interactive lab that deals with various physics topics: classical mechanics, optics, and thermodynamics.
My Science Site
Life Systems: Cells, Tissues, Organs
Extensive site for teachers provides some helpful resources that pertain to plant and animal cells. Includes a microscope diagram as well as plant, animal and pond labs. Also contains links to structures and mechanisms, matter and...