CULLMAN, Ala. – Cullman City Primary School students became “light scientists in-training” this month as part of a clever Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) project.
Students started by learning about how light travels in a straight line and what happens when it hits different materials, as well as how messages could be sent with light using Morse code. Then students headed to the lab to investigate with their own mini-STEM kits loaded with mini flashlights, clear discs, colorful see-through stones, wood, an assortment of plastic gems, mirrors and Morse code cards.
Students tested all the materials, and divided them up into four categories: transparent, translucent, opaque and reflective. Once they figured out how each material reacted to light, they set up their own signal stations to position mirrors so they could use their flashlights to send Morse code messages with short and long flashes of light.
Students learned how to send short messages and words including “SOS,” “Hi,” “Cat” and “Dog” to a partner across the room via mirrors.
“Students approached this lab with so much enthusiasm,” CCPS STEM & Math Intervention Teacher Anna Anderson said. “I was so impressed to hear them use scientific vocabulary correctly in conversation and see them apply learning outside the materials I supplied, like when a student held the flashlight up to his palm and exclaimed, ‘My hand is translucent!’”
Anderson said it was a great opportunity to connect the lesson to real-life use cases, showing students how things they use everyday function with the exact same principles.
“This science is everywhere: windows, sunglasses, blackout curtains, car headlights and lighthouses,” Anderson said. “Ships still signal each other with flashing lights, and the internet actually sends information as tiny pulses of light through glass fiber cables. So, in a way, our students were learning the same basic science that helps bring Disney+ to their TVs.”
