Mindmap:
https://mm.tt/app/map/3391660439?t=s9VmKCxX1F
Engage:
The Trigger: Read “Oíche Mhaith a Bhéirín” (Irish language version of “Can’t you Sleep, Little Bear?” to the class?
Wondering: How are the shadows in the illustrations being created? What is creating the shadows?
Exploring: Allow pupils to use torches and objects from their pencil cases to create shadows. Have them experiment with using different objects and moving the torch (light source) into different positions.
Investigate:
Starter Question: How does the size of a shadow change when the object moves closer to the light sources?
Predicting: Pupils predict whether the size of a shadow will get bigger, smaller or stay the same when the object creating the shadow moves closer to the light source.
Conducting the Investigation: Provide children with a torch, a white screen (e.g. bottom of a box with a sheet of plain A4 paper stuck to it), an object (e.g. a spoon or a fork) and a ruler. Ask them to devise their own investigation to discover what happens to the size of the object’s shadow when the distance between it and the torch (light source) changes?
Sharing, Interpreting the Data/Results: Guide the pupils to record their results in a table and a bar graph.
Take the Next Step:
Applying Learning: Have pupils go out to the school yard in the morning (away from any space where buildings would cast a shadow) and work in pairs to trace around each other’s shadows in white chalk. Then return again later in the day to repeat this task. Have pupils compare the shadows created and discuss how the position of the sun affects the shadow created.
Making Connections: Create shadow puppets and use the learning from earlier to figure out how to make the characters’ shadows grow taller and shorter by adjusting the distance between the objects and the light source.
Thoughtful Actions: Use the shadow puppets to stage a little play for the infants. Incorporate the characters getting taller and shorter (shadows getting longer and shorter) into the plot.
