Lesson Planning

Teaching

• Investigate how objects made from different materials cast shadows.
• Understand how a shadow changes depending on the object’s orientation.

Activities

1. Discover why opaque, transparent and translucent objects cast different shadows (Yr3&4).
2. Investigate how the orientation of an object affects the shadow by making hand shadows (Yr3).
3. Investigate how shadows can be seen from the other side of a translucent screen (Yr4).

Investigation - problem solving
Sue the stage manager put a lantern on the table and lowered a plain white curtain at the front of the stage. Maggie the director told everyone to take a break whilst they waited for the lights to come back on. Some shadows appeared on the curtain. Some witnesses took photos. What/who made the shadows? Are they important clues? Use cardboard shadow theatres to investigate shadows.
Year 3 - Explore how shadows are made and explore hand puppet shapes.
Year 4 - Explore how shadows are made and play a guessing game.
Both – Attempt to explain the shadows that were seen.

Vocabulary
Transparent, translucent, opaque, shadow, screen, light source, block