....a little camera shy........

Couldn't resist this blip this morning.

First lesson of the day, my top set Year 8's...topic Light and Cameras.

Once we got the principles worked out:
Light travels in straight lines.
Light will not pass through opaque objects and they cast shadows.
Light reflects off certain surfaces.
Light is produced by luminous objects.
Light can be focussed by a lens.

I gave them a camera...but the catch was they had to build it themselves and get it working.......a pin hole camera.

They struggled at first....with the construction.........a card box to construct, a piece of white transluscent paper, a piece of black paper and a pin....but eventually they all managed to produce something resembling the diagram.

Then I gave them a desk lamp and turned off the lab lights!

Eventually they all got the camera the right way round and got an image.....discussion on how to focus the image.... and then from one pupil came........"Sir, Sir I can see it"...."What can you see?".........Sir, Sir it's a light bulb and you can see the hot glowing wire inside it!"......."Very good and if you......"....but she interrupted ...."And Sir it's got B & Q 60 watt on it, but it's upside down, and Sir, it's back to front too!"

Pretty soon they all got it and we had a discussion about what happens to the light as it passes through the pin hole.............and then I let them add two more pin holes.............. a chorus of "Sir, Sir there's three light bulbs now!" .......and then one big hole.... "Oh, Sir, it's gone all blurry now, Sir!"

Then we summed up with some notes on how a camera works and looked at pictures of and taken by a selection of old cameras.....and ended up by showing them some shots of their own handiwork this morning.

I reckon that would have got a grading of "Good with some outstanding features" from the Inspectors...if they'd been there.

Das vidanya moy padruga.