This Theater Production was part of the 2001 “Kinetic Energy” Tour. View our Photo Gallery
Michigan
State University
Department of Theatre
Director:
Lynnette Young Overby
Assistant
Director: William Gordon
Costumes:
Gretel Geist
Choreographers:
Carolina DeCesare, Dorothy Harper Jones, Maritza Ferreira, and Lynnette
Young Overby
Performers:
Maritza Ferreira
Michelle Fluture
Jill Gibson
Laura Lund
Tim McCarty
Kim Reynolds
Jamie Steele
Table of Contents
1. Objectives
2. Spark and Pop opening and closing song
3. “My Shadow” Poem
4. “Ears Hear” Poem
5. Isaac Newton’s Experiment using two prisms
6. Isaac Newton’s Experiment using one prism
7. Light
8. Sound
9. Shadows
10. Mirrors
11. Reflection and Refraction
12. Rainbows
13. African Drum Dancing and Rhythm
14. Color Wheel Activity
15. Using Shadows to Tell Time
16. Rainbow Formation
17. Me and My Shadow
18. How to make a Rainbow
19. Do you see a Shadow?
20. Mirror, Mirror in the Classroom
21. Sound Waves
22. Bibliography
All students
will describe sounds and sound waves; explain shadows, color, and other
light phenomena; measure and describe vibrations and waves; and explain
how waves and vibrations transfer energy.
This is the song that we will be singing at the beginning and the end of our performance. We invite the children to sing and clap along with us!
Spark and Pop!
Light and Sound!
Echoes and Rainbows and Shadows all around.
Spark and Pop!
Light and Sound!
Echoes and Rainbows and Shadows all around.
Spark and Shines Bright!
While Pop makes Sounds!
ILLUMINATE
AMPLIFY
REFLECT/REFRACT
ARTICULATE
SURROUND………….
The Adventures
of Light and Sound!
My
Shadow
Robert Lewis Stevenson
I have a
little shadow that goes in and out of me.
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into me bed’
The funniest
thing about him is the way he likes to grow-
Not at all like proper children, which is always very slow;
For he sometimes shoots up taller like and India-rubber ball;
And sometimes gets so little that there is none of him at all.
He hasn’t
got a notion of how children ought to play.
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way.
He stays so close beside me, he’s a coward you can see;
I’d think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to me!
One morning,
very early, before the sun was up,
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup;
But my lazy little shadow, like and arrant sleep-head,
Had stayed at home behind me and was fast asleep in bed.
Ears
Hear
Lucia M. and James L. Hymes Jr.
Flies buzz,
Motors roar.
Kettles hiss,
People snore.
Dogs bark,
Birds cheep.
Autos honk: Beep! Beep!
Winds sigh,
Shoes squeak.
Truck honk,
Floors creak.
Whistles toot,
Bells clang.
Doors clang: Bang! Bang!
Kids shout,
Clocks ding.
Babies cry,
Phones ring.
Ball bounce,
Spoons drop.
People scream: Stop! Stop!
One
of Newton’s Experiments
Using Color and Two Prisms
EnlargeUsing a single
prism and a pinhole punched in a piece of wood; Sir Isaac Newton was able
to isolate one color of the spectrum. Sending the same ray of light through
a second prism showed that it could not be broken down any further.
Light is essential for life, we all need light to survive. People need light for sight; otherwise we would be in total darkness. Light is also an important source of heat, without heat from the sun’s light; our planet would be too cold to live on.
- The sun’s light is in the form of solar energy and it is the primary source of heat for the earth.
- If we did not have light then we would not have food because light from the sun acts as food for plants, it does through a process called photosynthesis.
- Green plants would not be able to grow without sunlight, and without plants to eat, herbivores would not die, and then carnivores would not be able to eat herbivores and they would die, and then we would have nothing to eat either so then we would all die. So it’s a good thing we have the sun’s light.
- Light also comes to us in a form of electric light.
- We see this in our homes by simply slipping a switch or plugging a cord into the wall.
- It’s a good thing that the light bulb was invented so that we are able to see indoors at night.
- Light travels 186,282 miles a second in a straight line. It sometimes bends when it passes through certain substances and that process is called refraction.
- Light that bounces off a smooth surface is reflected light and what is not reflected is absorbed or taken in.
- Light is a kind of energy and when something gives off light, that light leaves that object in a straight line called a ray; this process is called radiation.
- Light can also be broken into the colors of the rainbow if a beam of light passes through a triangle of glass called a prism.
- A ray
of colors will appear every time in the same order: Red, Orange, Yellow,
Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet.
Sound cannot
be seen but it can be heard. We have sounds all around us.
There are sounds found outside and inside and some sounds come from animals
and humans and others come from objects that are not living. Some sounds
are high and some are low. Other sounds are soft and some are also loud.
Can you make a list of sounds you hear right now?
Sound is made when something vibrates. To vibrate means to move again
and again, from side to side or up and down. When something vibrates,
it gives off sound. Sometimes you can see the vibration, like when you
wave a piece of paper back and forth and sometimes you cannot hear the
vibrations.
Sounds are heard at high levels and low levels and that is called the
pitch.
The pitch has to do with how fast or slow something vibrates. The faster
something vibrates, the higher the pitch and the slower the vibration,
the lower the pitch.
More waves are made with each vibration and these vibrations are called
waves.
Sound travels through many substances in sound waves.
Sound travels through air the slowest, water at a medium speed, and through
solids at the fastest speed.
A shadow is a darkened outline or image made by an object blocking light. It is formed when light hits an opaque object and cannot go through that object. Opaque means that light cannot pass through and object.
- The shadow is the dark area that forms because the light has to go around the opaque object instead of through it.
- So, a silhouette, or an outline, forms around the object and the inside of the silhouette is dark because light is unable to reach it.
- What are some other opaque objects? How about a dog or a car, a house or a tree, and maybe a brick wall or a window.
- Nope, you are right, a window is transparent, that means that light can pass through so there would not be a shadow on the other side of the window.
- What about humans, are we opaque?
- Do you remember that part about Shadows in the presentation when Pop say her shadow for the first time.
- Did the light pass through her? You are right again, the light did not pass through because we are all opaque and the light cannot pass through us.
- Shadows can also change in size. The farther away an object is from the light source, the larger it gets and the closer and object is to the light, the smaller it gets.
- Shadows are very fun to observe and make but shadows also have a very important purpose.
- By using a device called a sundial, shadows were used to tell time long before there were wristwatches or hanging clocks.
The first mirror was probably a very still pool of water. When you look at yourself in a still, smooth pool of water you can see your reflection, just like it was a glass or plastic mirror that you might have seen at home or in a bathroom at school.
- Practically any shiny surface can be used as a mirror.
- Have you ever walked down the street and turned to look at yourself in a big glass store window? You are able to see your reflection as long as the sun or another light source reflects off the glass.
- If you were outside in the evening then the light source would have to be an electric light, like a lamppost on the street corner, in order to see your reflection.
- The oldest mirror was actually uncovered in Egypt; it dates back to 6,500 years ago. It was made out of selenite, which is a mineral with a shiny surface.
- People also have been known to use a shiny piece of bronze as a mirror. Bronze is still used today, but not as a mirror, rather it has been used to make plaques, statues, and medals.
- The Romans were the first to produce large quantities of glass mirrors with a shiny metallic coating on them, just like the mirrors that we are familiar with today.
- Mirrors are not only used for grooming, but they are also used for decoration and as scientific instruments, such as the mirror a dentist used to clean your teeth.
- What are
some other uses for a mirror? Mirrors are very useful and fun to play
with at the same time.
A reflection
is an image given back by a reflected surface. Many surfaces around you
reflect light.
One example is a still pool of water, but you probably remember that from
the presentation.
What are some other examples?
Maybe a piece of glass, a mirror, or televisions screen. Can you come
up with anymore possibilities of surfaces that reflect light?
You are able to see your reflection in a mirror the best because it is
so smooth and shiny.
The law of reflection says that if you throw a ball straight at a wall,
it will bounce straight back.
If you throw it at an angle, it will bounce off at the same angle. This
law of reflection works for light too.
If you shine a beam of light on a wall at an angle, it will bounce off
at the same angle.
Refraction
Refraction
of light means a change in the direction of light by bending it.
The light usually passes through a transparent substance or object and
the light ray is redirected and bent in a different direction.
For example, pools on a sunny day look shallower than they really are
because the light coming from the bottom of the pool bends when it comes
out at the surface.
This example of refraction is caused because the change in speed of light.
Light travels the fastest in air, 25% slower in water, and even slower
in glass, 35% slower.
Long, long go some people believed that rainbows were magic. Other thought that rainbows were bridges that appeared in the sky to connect people to the sky. Some people also thought, that if you followed a rainbow all the way to its end where it met the earth then there would be a big pot of gold waiting there.
- Rainbows are made when sunlight shines through raindrops. In order to see a rainbow you must have the sun to your back and the rain falling in front of you.
- Sunlight looks like white light but it is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow.
- Remember if you cannot recall the colors of the rainbow, just think of ROY G. BIV, the rainbow man.
- When a raindrop falls from the sky, the sunlight passes through it and divides it into various color spectrums.
- The rainbow reflects these colors, just like a mirror. Many rays of sunlight passes through the rain falling down, breaking them up into the colors of the spectrum to create a beautiful, curved, colorful rainbow.
- Make a
wish and go find your lucky pot of gold.
African Drum Dancing and Rhythm
In many cultures especially African ones, music and art are combined into an art form. Just like the dances of West Africa, this king of dancing is movement and music all in one. The rhythm of this kind of music and dancing is a musical pattern of regularly occurring sounds or beats.
- These beats are both stressed and unstressed depending on what type of feeling you are trying to portray.
- These beats can also be either long beats or short beats.
- In West Africa the rhythm of the drum guides, inspires, and interacts with the dancers.
- It is very popular to dance barefoot in West Africa.
- The dancers stomp on the ground in simple rhythms to the beat of the drum.
- When an African dancer touch their feet to the ground, they are connecting spiritually to the rhythm of the drums.
- The dancers are arranged in a circle, which represents the circle of life.
- They dance with bent knees and bent arms with their palms facing the ground because many of their dances are to thank the earth and the ground for providing them with good harvest and so they connect and be close to their ancestors.
- After the thanking chant and dance is over then the African dancers move to a celebration dance which they maintain the bent knees but the move around more and jump high and swing their arms up with joy and happiness for the celebration of life.
- These dances of West Africa are based on the cycle of life.
- They are a way to celebrate life’s different stages and to communicate with the spirits of ancestors.
- The rhythm provided by the drums that drives the dance is repetitive and cyclical, just like life is.
- A person who joins the dance circle brings with them the spiritual power of their ancestors.
- Dancers
will usually move in a counterclockwise motion while the shuffle their
feet rhythmically to the beautiful, harmonious beat of the African Drum.
Color
Wheel:
How the colors of the rainbow make white light!
Purpose:
The object of this activity is to show that by combining the colors of
the spectrum, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, the
color white can be produced.
Age/Setting: 1st-5th graders, it is fun for all ages/ this activity can
be done in the classroom.
Materials Needed: Tag Board, Short Sharpened Pencil, Markers, Scissors,
and Rulers.
Activity:
1. Have the class cut a circle about three inches in diameter from the
tag board. If the children are younger, first or second grade, you might
want to have circles pre-made for the students. It may also be easier
for the older students to make a 3” circle using a compass so it
might be a good idea to have some compasses on hand as well. You may also
want to create a pattern that the students can use so it is easier to
measure the circle and the sections of the circle.
2. Next have the students divide the circle into seven equal parts, using
a pattern provided or a compass to measure equal sections. After the seven
sections have been made, instruct the students to color each section in
this order, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, the
colors of the rainbow.
3. Next, have the students carefully poke their pencils into the center
of their pencils into the centers of their circles. They should press
the pencils down so about 1/3 sticks out under the circles. The colored
sections should be facing up and the pencil tip facing up.
4. Now, it is time to make white light out of the colors of the rainbow.
Tell the students to spin the pencils like tops and watch and observe
what they see happening to the colors of the rainbow. The colors should
blur and it should look like one big white colored circle. The students
may need to try this numerous times until they can get use to spinning
the pencil.
Resources: Light and Color, by Karen Lee Siepak
Using
Shadows to Tell Time:
Making a Sundial
Purpose:
To create a sundial using to tell time using the shadow the sun produces.
The students will be able to make their own sundial and learn how to tell
time using a sundial.
Age Group/Setting: 1st-5th grades. Depending on the grade level and the
desecration of the teacher, this can be done either as a whole, in small
groups, or individually.
Materials Needed: paper plate, fresh, sharpened pencil, mound of clay,
protractor, and an ink pen.
Activity:
1. Give each student a paper plate and instruct him or her to put the
clay in the middle of the plate with the pencil standing straight up in
the mound of clay.
2. Put the sundial outside in an open are not restricted with shadows
from buildings and trees. It might be helpful to take the sundials outside
at 9am or another specific time and mark where the shadow of the pencil
fell.
3. The have the children repeat this exercise every hour and have them
record it on their plate by making a mark where the shadow is.
4. If you start this activity at the very beginning of the day and end
it right before the children leave they will have a fairly complete sundial
so they ca always know what time it is while they are at home. They need
to realize that after the sun goes down they will not be able to record
the time anymore because without the sun, there is no shadow!
Resources: Light and Color, by Karen Lee Siepak
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to demonstrate the formation of rainbows
and make it easier for the students to understand how rainbows are made
and remember the colors of the rainbow.
Age/Setting: Kindegarden-2nd grades/In the classroom
Materials Needed: A rainbow story of your choice that includes the seven
colors of the rainbow, including indigo. The book recommended for this
lesson is called “A Rainbow of my Own”, but check to make
sure it includes the color indigo.
Activity:
1. Read a rainbow story to the children, or tell them a rainbow story
to get them in the rainbow mood!
2. After the story, ask the students to recall some rainbow words that
they remember from the story or just know from the past. Also ask them
if they can name all the colors of the rainbow.
3. Now, go through the rainbow formation process with the children and
provide a simple drawing on the board so the children an visually see
the process.
4. Once you have reviewed the process with the children, break down the
parts of it: sunlight, raindrops, colors of the rainbow (7), and if you
really wanted to get creative, a pot of gold, trees, flowers, and maybe
even birds too. Randomly divide the children into groups, a few children
for the raindrops, the sunlight, seven children for the colors of the
rainbow, a few children to form the round pot of gold, then maybe some
others to be flowers and trees.
5. Now the children are ready to reenact the rainbow formation process.
6. Read or tell the story to the children again and pause to tell them
what to do when their part is read. Practice it with the story and then
have the children perform while you read it.
Resource: www.LessonPlansPage.com I modified this lesson to suit the age
group and the subject matter.
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to show how shadows are formed by light
being blocked by an object. This exercise will also show how the size
of shadows can change throughout the day.
Age/Setting: 1st-5th grades/Outside in a nice sunny day
Materials Needed: Chalk, Measuring tape, pencil, and paper
Activity:
1. On a nice sunny day, take the students outside and have them choose
a partner to work with. Tell the students about shadows and how shadows
are formed. They should have some prior knowledge of shadows and how shadows
change throughout the day due to the movement of the sun.
2. Have the students choose which partner will go first. The student to
fo first will stand still with his/her arms and legs pointing down and
close to their body. The other student will draw the first student’s
shadow created by the sun. Partners then switch roles and repeat the process.
After the first drawing have both students measure their shadows with
a tape measure and record the time and the measurement. Make sure the
children have put their name on their shadow and on their paper.
3. The first measurement should be take in the morning as soon as there
is enough sunlight to cast a shadow. Then do another measurement about
two hours later and repeat each step, making sure to record the results
again. Then one last measurement should be taken of the students’
shadows two hours later.
4. Now that the students’ shadows have changed individually throughout
the day, they can calculate the total change, the change from the first
measurement to the second measurement, or they can compare each other’s
shadows and how they changed. There are many activities the children can
now with their results. You may want to ask the students if they have
any ideas of activities that they would like to do. You may also want
to do this activity at different times of the year and ten compare the
total class results depending of the time of the year.
Resource: www.LessonPlansPage.com
Purpose:
The purpose of this exercise is to make a homemade rainbow in the classroom.
The children will learn how rainbows are formed and that the colors of
the rainbow always appear in the same order, red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, indigo, (blue-violet), and violet.
Age/Setting: K-5th grade, it is easy for all ages!
Materials Needed: drinking glass, access to water, large sheet of white
paper, sunlight (fairly low in the sky)
Activity:
1. Fill the glass to the top with the water and stand it on the edge of
a window in bright sunlight.
2. Place a sheet of white paper on the floor below the glass, carefully
position the glass a little over the edge of the windowsill and align
the paper so that the sun shines through the water to the paper. You will
be able to see a rainbow or spectrum band on the paper.
3. The teacher should demonstrate this for the younger students and the
older students can do this experiment in small groups. Have the students
first predict what they think they will see, maybe have them draw it.
4. You could also have the students try this experiment at different times
of the day and using other types of glasses 9plastic), or even different
colors of paper to see what results they come up with.
Resources: Physics for kids, Robert W. Wood
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to show how some objects produce a shadow
when light hits an object and makes a shadow on the opposite side and
also how some objects do not produce a shadow because light passes through
the object, therefore no shadow is produced.
Age/Setting: 2nd-4th graders/The classroom is a suitable location and
table space is also necessary for the experiment.
Materials Needed: Clear plastic cup, colored plastic mug, flashlight,
access to water.
Activity:
1. Fill up the clear plastic cup and the dark colored mug with water and
then place them next to each other on the table.
2. Ask the students to make a prediction about whether the light will
shine through either one or the other objects, neither of them, both of
the objects. Explain opaque, translucent, and transparent to the students
prior to the exercise.
3. Begin the experiment by holding the flashlight on one side of the object,
angling it down toward only one of the objects at a time, and seeing if
a shadow was created on the opposite side. Place a white piece of paper
on the opposite side of the object, farthest from the light to see if
a shadow is cast.
4. Try both objects and see id the class predictions were correct.
Resources: Kim Reynolds
Mirror, Mirror in the Classroom
Purpose:
The purpose of this activity is to show how mirrors work by having the
children mirror the motions of their partner. It is a good introduction
to creative dramatics and helps children feel more comfortable with acting
out activities in the classroom.
Age/Setting: 2nd-4th graders/In the classroom, sitting or standing facing
a partner.
Materials Needed: a paintbrush, a scarf, or a cloth
Activity:
1. The students need to have a partner and need to be positioned facing
their partner. It may make things easier if the teacher separates the
children into two groups, M’s and L’s and then tell them to
find a partner of the opposite letter.
2. The M’s are the mirror’s to begin with and the L’s
are the one’s who are looking into the mirror. The two will switch
roles after the first mirroring is done.
3. The L’s being SLOW movement and the M’s have to follow
them. They should stay stationary and only move their arms, legs, head,
fingers, feet and their bodies up and down, experimenting with different
levels.
4. After about five minutes have the children switch roles.
5. For a more advanced activity have the children looking into the mirror
and pretend to be a painter holding a paintbrush, a scarf, or a cloth
and have the mirrors pretend to be the color of the paint. The color of
the paint has to follow the painter’s paintbrush to make the color
come alive. It is neat when you provide colored objects for the children
to paint with.
Resources: Lynnette Young Overby
Purpose:
The purpose of this experiment is to show the difference sound traveling
through water compared to sound traveling through water.
Age/Setting: 2nd-5th graders/In the classroom
Materials Needed: One clear, glass, rectangular fish tank filled to the
top with water, (any glass container will due as long as it is large enough
to put your hands inside), a friend or partner, and two rocks.
Activity:
1. First have one of the students take the two rocks an strike them together
outside of the container, in the air. The other student should listen
carefully for the sound it makes.
2. Now have the student with the rocks submerge the rocks in the glass
container and strike the rocks again. This time the students listening
for the sound should put hid/her ear up against the side of the container.
Once again, the listener should pay close attention to the sound that
is now created by the rocks.
3. Have the students record what they hear and maybe have them share their
results with the class. The rocks under water should sound louder because
sound travels better and faster through water than it does through air.
4. Resources: Sound Experiments, by Ray Broekel
1. Johnson,
Anne E., Jazz Tap; from African drums to American Feet,
Rosen Publishing Group Inc., New York, 1999
2. Color
and Light: from the Smithsonian Institution
Gareth Stevens Publishing, Milwaukee, WI, 1993
3. Ridiman,
Bob, What is a Shadow?
Parents Magazine Press, New York, 1973
4. Wood,
Robert W. Physic for Kids: 49 East Experiments with Optics Tab Books,
Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1990
5. Alexander,
Melvin A., Light and Sight
Pretice-Hall Inc., Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1969
6. Brokel,
Ray, A New True Book: Sound Experiments
Children’s Press, Chicago, 1983
7. Parsons,
Alexandra, Make it work: Sound
Two-Can Publishing Ltd., 1997
8. Scott,
John M., What is Sound?
Parents Magazine, New York, 1973
9. Fisher,
S.H., Table Top Experiments: Physics experiments for everyone
The Natural History Press, Garden City, New York, 1969
10. Asimov,
Isaac, Light
Follett Publishing Company, Chicago, 1970
11. Zubraowski,
Bernie, Mirrors: Finding Out the Properties of Light
William Morrow and Company Inc., New York, 1992
12. Ubell,
Earl, The World of Candle and Color
McClelland and Stewart Ltd., 1969
