Reflections in Water

• How can water reflect light?

• Why are some reflections clearer and others blurrier?
• Why are water reflections upside-down?

Students could:

• Identify situations and patterns in which water does or does not reflect light.
• Compare and contrast how light interacts with different materials (metals, wood, plastic, glass, liquids).
• Use observations of light's interactions to model how light is transmitted, reflected, and absorbed.
• Model how matter waves similarly are transmitted, reflected, and absorbed by different materials.
• Use models of wave transmission/reflection/absorption to explain how different materials like lenses, light filters, and sound barriers work.

• PhET | Bending Light: Simulation of reflection and refraction involving various materials.
• PhET | Color Vision: Simulation of how light is absorbed and transmitted by different filters.
• Physics Classroom | Reflection and Mirrors Simulations: Various simulations of how light interacts with mirrors; intended for high school but could be used in a middle school classroom.
• NextGenStorylines | How Can We Sense So Many Different Sounds from a Distance?: High-quality middle school unit addressing several waves-related standards.
• PBS LearningMedia | Light and the Law of Reflection: Student-appropriate video explaining reflection.

Submitted by Dan Voss and Madison Beeler as part of their Iowa STEM Teacher Externship experience at Iowa PBS.

Media produced by Iowa PBS.