Optics & Photonics News

an in-depth workshop for the second half of the program. In conjuction with LaserFest, the American Physical Society (APS) has produced three hands-on, classroom-tested lessons. (See “References and Resources” for a link to the lessons.) Heide Doss, APS education consultant, and Becky Thompson, APS head of public outreach, presented a workshop covering these lessons. The teachers were each given a set of the required materials, and they worked through each activity with the help of experts from the Rochester optics community.

The educators looked at the diffraction patterns from white and red LEDs and a red laser pointer. The white LED produced a full rainbow of colors. The red LED produced a red smear with a green edge, while the laser produced crisp red spots. Their observations provided evidence that the light from the red and white LEDs is composed of more than one color, whereas laser light contains only one color (or wavelength).

The demonstration was striking and opened many discussions. The classroom-tested lesson plan was designed to address the lack of confidence that some educators feel when teaching optics. The materials list, instructions and discussion topics for these activities were given in a teacher manual. The equipment fits in a pocket and costs only a few dollars.

In New York state (among many others), teachers are under tremendous pressure to teach to the state’s required curriculum. Although optics is not formally included in the Intermediate-Level Science Core Curriculum, Grades 5-8, it can be used to fulfill aspects of the curriculum with properly designed activities. One of the goals of these lessons is to help teachers make optics part of the curriculum and thus justify spending significant time teaching it.

The Physics of Lasers training
manual includes lesson-by-lesson
references to the American Associa-
tion for the Advancement of Science
benchmarks and the National Science
Education Standards (NSES). While
these are national curriculum standards
for the United States, the New York
state standards are similar. The teacher’s
manual provides a table showing how
each lesson fulfills one or more of the
curriculum standards. For example, all
three lessons satisfy the NSES physical
science standard on “The Interaction of
Energy and Matter”. These lessons can
thus be used to satisfy existing curricu-
lum requirements, rather than being
thought of as “enrichment.”

Real resources

In addition to materials for the Physics of Lasers lessons, each educator received a goody bag with red and green laser pointers, an OSA Optics Discovery Kit, and a Laser Days in the Classroom Activity Kit sponsored by Lockheed Martin and APS. The grand door prize was a class set of 30 Galileoscopes, which was made possible by our generous corporate sponsors.

Student athletes begin training in middle school and younger to make the varsity team in high school. We need student scientists prepared to show the same level of commitment. In his remarks at The White House Science Fair in October 2010, President Barack Obama said, “When you win first place at a science fair, nobody is rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head. But in many ways, our future depends on what happens in those contests.” Teachers, we need your students. t

David M. Berg ( david@orensage.com) is an optical system design consultant at Oren Sage Technology, LLC, and adjunct assistant professor at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, N. Y., U.S.A.

[ References and Resources ]

>> The Regents of the University, The State University of New York, Intermediate Level Science, Core Curriculum, Grades 5-8: www.p12.nysed.gov/ciai/mst/pub/ intersci.pdf

>> The complete lessons for the Physics of Lasers workshop, including teacher and student manuals, are available at www.laserfest.org/resources/lessons. cfm