Primary School Pupils‘ Experiences of Light and Shadow
à Test
The test consists of 6 items, three of which were taken from TIMMS 2011*. The other 3 items are shown here:
*S041069 (direction of shadow), S041120 (primary light sources), S051179 (reflection on a lake)
References:
Hardman, M., & Riordan, J. P. (2014). How might educational research into children’s ideas about light be of use to teachers? Physics Education, 49(6), 644.
Holmqvist, M., Gustavsson, L., & Wernberg, A. (2008). Variation theory: An organizing principle to guide design research in education.
Holmqvist, M.; Brante, G.; Tullgren, C. (2012). Learning study in pre-school: teachers’ awareness of children's learning and what they actually learn. International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 1 (2), pp. 153 – 167.
Marton, F., & Booth, S. (1997). Learning and awareness. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Murmann, L. (2002). Physiklernen zu Licht, Schatten und Sehen. Berlin: Logos
Oser, F. & Baeriswyl, F. (2001). Choreographies of teaching: bridging instruction to learning. In: V. Richardson (Ed.), AERA’s handbook of research on teaching (4th ed.). Washington, DC: AERA, 1031−1065.
Authors:
Mona Holmqvist, Malmö University, Sweden, mona.holmqvist@mah.se
Lydia Murmann, University of Bremen, Germany: murmann@uni-bremen.de
Light & Shadow
Human experience of light is an experience of brightness, of illuminated surfaces and of light sources. We cannot see a path, and neither whether light travels or not.
Learning to explain shadows is a content of elementary and middle school curricula. The expected explanation includes the ideas of light shining along straight lines, of some light being blocked by an object and other light from the same source passing the
same object, thereby forming a visible shadow on a surface behind the object.
Research questions
How do children understand the concepts of
light and shadow?
Can critical aspects of their understanding of shadows (Murmann 2002) be made
productive for teaching an explanation of shadows? (I.e. a. relevance of light source, b. light passing the object / illuminating the shadows vicinity.
Do children appreciate and use a model for invisible light? (Presented in lessons A, B, C) Which adaptations of lessons A, B, (C) seem necessary?
à Introductory lessons
… were supposed to provide the pupils with conscious experience of light and shadow in different ways and forms:
① Stencils – write
① Walls and windows – predict, observe ① Invisibility – predict, observe
① Shadow sculptures – solve
à Lessons A, B, C
Activities:
⑤ Features – discuss
⑥ Model of light – understand, discuss ⑦ Moving shadow – explain
Changes: A à B
Changes: B à C
Learning Study
A teaching sequence of 3 lessons was taught in 3 different groups of pupils (1 group 2nd grade &
two groups 3rd grade) by two different teachers.
The first two lessons were introductory and included manifold possibilities to experience light and shadows à “introductory lessons”
The third lesson was focused on. It was revised twice à “lessons A, B, C”
Each of the groups took a pre- and post-test. Follow-up tests are scheduled for August / September 2017. à test
Discussion
Is a model of light (as a “traveling” entity) needed for a substantial understanding of the physics of light?
Are the distractors of item 2 well-understood by the pupils?
Results
Observations: Pupils responded with and curious participation to all 3 lessons (1, 2 & focus lesson).
Overall: pupils’ experience and understanding in compliance with literature.
Test data: only in group C a noticeable effect between pre-/post-test of introducing the model of
traveling light in lesson C could be measured. (Follow-up tests have not taken place yet.) Items 4-6 show compliance with TIMMS data (?)
item 1 item 2 item 3
Lessons
• … were informed by Oser’s basic models of teaching (Oser & Baeriswyl 2001).
• … questioned whether light can be carried in baskets and buckets (“Schildbürgergeschichte”). • Hands on – minds on:
① Large letter stencils were used to “write” with light.
② Light figures were predicted before a candle was turned on.
③ The invisibility of light between source and projection was enquired in a box (+ work sheet) and by use of a standard lamp.
④ 3D Shadow sculptures were built / shadows were filled: a) with cubes in the shade of a box.
b) with the children’s bodies in the shade of a table.
⑤ Features of light were discussed (straight vs. curved, slow vs. fast, visible vs. invisible) ⑥ A model of light traveling invisibly from source to surface was introduced.
