Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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ScienceEnergy and waves26 min★★ difficulty

Light: reflection, refraction and colour

Light behaves differently depending on the material it meets — bouncing off, bending through, or splitting into a rainbow of colours.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Physics: waves: Understand the transmission of light through materials, reflection, refraction and the colours of the light spectrum

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Understand the transmission of light through materials, reflection, refraction and the colours of the light spectrum

Key learning points

  • • Transmission through materials
  • • Reflection and refraction
  • • The visible spectrum

This lesson at a glance

  • 26 minutes
  • 14 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

transmissionmaterialsreflectionrefractioncolours

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 14 · Discover7%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 14

Watch first

Light: reflection, refraction and colour

An English teaching video on this topic from Lammas Science. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Understand the transmission of light through materials, reflection, refraction and the colours of the light spectrum

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 14

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Transmission through materials

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 14

Learn

Transmission through materials

Transparent materials, like glass, let light pass through almost unaffected, so you can see clearly through them. Translucent materials, like frosted glass, scatter light as it passes through. Opaque materials, like wood, block light entirely, casting a shadow.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 14

Learn

Reflection and refraction

Reflection occurs when light bounces off a surface, with the angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection. Refraction occurs when light changes speed and bends as it passes between two different transparent materials, such as air and water, which is why a straw looks bent in a glass of water.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 14

Quick check

What happens to light hitting an opaque object?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 14

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 14

Quick check

What causes a straw to look bent in a glass of water?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 14

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · The visible spectrum

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 14

Learn

The visible spectrum

White light is made up of all the colours of the visible spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. A prism refracts different colours by different amounts (violet bends most, red least), splitting white light into a rainbow, called dispersion.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 14

Quick check

Which colour of visible light bends the most through a prism?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 14

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Challenge round

Part 12 of 14

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

Transparent ____, like glass, let light pass through almost unaffected, so you can see clearly through them.

____ occurs when light bounces off a surface, with the angle of incidence equal to the angle of reflection.

____ occurs when light changes speed and bends as it passes between two different transparent materials, such as air and water, which is why a straw looks bent in a glass of water.

13

Mastery quiz

Part 13 of 14

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Light: reflection, refraction and colour

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. What happens to light hitting an opaque object?

  2. 2. What causes a straw to look bent in a glass of water?

  3. 3. Which colour of visible light bends the most through a prism?

14

Lesson round-up

Part 14 of 14

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Case study

Why the school greenhouse failed

A science club grew tomato plants in the school greenhouse. In June the plants grew well: leaves were dark green and the fruit set quickly. In July the club went away for two weeks and left the greenhouse door shut. When they came back, the leaves were curled and pale and most of the fruit had dropped.

The club had a data logger inside. It showed the temperature reached 46 °C on several afternoons and the soil moisture fell close to zero. The club knew photosynthesis needs light, water and carbon dioxide, and that enzymes in a plant work best in a narrow range of temperature. Above that range the enzymes stop working properly.

The club repeated the summer with the door propped open and a water bottle drip on each pot. Temperature peaked at 31 °C and the plants survived.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Name the variable the club changed the second time, and one variable they kept the same.
  2. Explain, using the words photosynthesis and enzymes, why the plants were damaged in July.
  3. Write a conclusion for the club's report, saying how far the evidence supports it.

  • Method and results

    Writing

    Write the aim, what you changed, what you measured and what you kept the same, then record your results in a table.

    1 page + results table

  • Conclusion

    Writing

    Explain what your results show and why, using the scientific words from the lesson. Say how you know you can trust them.

    6–8 sentences

  • Labelled diagram

    Diagram

    Draw the apparatus or the process in pencil, label it fully, and photograph it.

    1 labelled diagram

  • Reading and notes

    Reading

    Read the lesson text again and write the key ideas in your own words.

    Half a page of notes

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 14 · Watch & discover

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    Understand the transmission of light through materials, reflection, refraction and the colours of the light spectrum

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