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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: A Spectral Mystery

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students use the spectrograph from the "Building a Fancy Spectrograph" activity to gather data about light sources. Using their data, they make comparisons between different light sources and make conjectures about the composition of a...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Graphing the Rainbow

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students are introduced to different ways of displaying visual spectra, including colored "barcode" spectra, like those produced by a diffraction grating, and line plots displaying intensity versus color, or wavelength. Students learn...
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: What Is Color?

For Students 9th - 10th
Colm Kelleher describes the physics behind colors- why the colors we see are related to the period of motion and the frequency of waves. [3:09]
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Unit Plan
CK-12 Foundation

Ck 12: Electromagnetic Spectrum

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login may be required to access all resource tools.] Students learn what an electromagnetic wave is, gain a feel for the main parts of the spectrum, and work on problems involving basic properties of electromagnetic...
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Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Glowing Flowers

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Student teams learn about engineering design of green fluorescent proteins (GFPs) and their use in medical research, including stem cell research. They simulate the use of GFPs by adding fluorescent dye to water and letting a flower or...
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Unit Plan
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Physics 2000: Einstein's Legacy: X Rays

For Students 9th - 10th
An explanation of how X-ray machines work. An online activity in which a comparison is made between how the hand would be viewed with X-ray versus with visible light. An additional page explains the use of X-rays in CAT scan devices.
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Nasa: Imagine the Universe: What's the Frequency, Roy G. Biv

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this very detailed lesson plan from NASA, students investigate wavelength and frequency within the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Interactive
NASA

Nasa: Match Light Faces With Heat Faces

For Students 3rd - 8th
Can you picture someone in infrared? In this game, you try to match pictures taken of faces with a regular camera with those taken with an infrared camera. After the game, there is background information on infrared waves.
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Where Did All the Stars Go?

For Students 3rd - 5th
If you live in a big city or urban area it is hard to see many stars at night. In most urban areas only the most brilliant stars, planets and the moon can be seen. This is because of something called light pollution which is the...
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Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: If Superpowers Were Real: Invisibility

For Students 9th - 10th
What if invisibility wasn't just the stuff of epic comic book stories? Is it scientifically possible to be invisible? In this series, creator Joy Lin tackles six superpowers and reveals just how scientifically realistic they can be. [4:33]
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Activity
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Project Ideas: How Primary Colors Combine to Make New Colors

For Students 3rd - 5th
In this science fair project, paint color pie slices onto a wheel and spin the wheel on an electric drill. See how colors add together to make new colors. The Science Buddies project ideas are set up consistently beginning with an...
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Graphic
University of California

Center for Science Education: Gallery

For Students 9th - 10th
A gallery of astronomy images which depict galaxies, comets, the moon, planets, nebulae, supernovae as seen in various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Each image in the gallery is described. Fascinating!
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Activity
NOAA

Noaa: Seeing Things Differently Using Polarization [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Discover how polarizing filters can make certain objects more visible to the human eye.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Georgia State University: Color

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Georgia State University discusses the location of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. Includes the wavelength values for various colors of light within the visible light spectrum.
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Graphic
Curated OER

Georgia State University: Color

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Georgia State University discusses the location of visible light on the electromagnetic spectrum. Includes the wavelength values for various colors of light within the visible light spectrum.
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Handout
NASA

Nasa: Mission: Science: Electromagnetic Spectrum: Infrared Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
Infrared light lies between the visible and microwave portions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared light has a range of wavelengths, just like visible light has wavelengths that range from red light to violet.
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Handout
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College: Chem Lab: Spectronic 20 Analog

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explains how a Spec. 20 spectrometer measures the amount of visible light absorbed by a colored solution. Requires QuickTime plug-in for some features.
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Handout
Dartmouth College

Dartmouth College: Chem Lab: Digital Spectrometer

For Students 9th - 10th
This site explains how a digital spectrometer measures the amount of visible light absorbed by a colored solution.
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Website
York University

York University: Color and Color Vision

For Students 9th - 10th
York University provides an index page to several other pages on the topic of color and color vision. The pages are part of an online "book." Many graphics and explanations.
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PPT
Sophia Learning

Sophia: Radiation and Energy: Lesson 2

For Students 9th - 10th
This lesson discusses the light spectrum and its influence on living things. It is 2 of 3 in the series titled "Radiation and Energy."
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Unit Plan
Georgia Department of Education

Ga Virtual Learning: Electromagnetic Waves

For Students 9th - 10th
Through informational text, interactive activities, practice problems, and virtual simulations, students explore the properties of electromagnetic waves.
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Graphic
Other

The Weather Company: The Weather Underground

For Students 9th - 10th
Source of weather maps, forecasts, images, and data for the world. Maps include temperature, radar, visibility, wind, heat index, wind chill, humidity, and dew point.
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Handout
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Berkeley Lab: University of California: Electromagnetic Radiation

For Students 9th - 10th
This page defines electromagnetic radiation. Included are links to more information.
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Handout
Synopsys

Synopsys: A Gentle Intro to Optical Design: Why Is the Sky Blue?

For Students 9th - 10th
Discusses Rayleigh scattering in plain language and attributes the blueness of the skies to this phenomenon. Discussion of scattering is just one topic of many on this lengthy page of optical topics.

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