Transmission and Refraction of Light Science Games

In this series of games, your students will learn how different materials affect light traveling through them. The Transmission and Refraction of Light learning objective — based on NGSS and state standards — delivers improved student engagement and academic performance in your classroom, as demonstrated by research.

Scroll down for a preview of this learning objective’s games and the concepts they drive home.

Concepts Covered

Light is the transfer of energy via electromagnetic waves. These waves are measured by their wavelength, frequency, and speed. For example, each color in the visible light spectrum — red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet — represents a different wavelength and frequency.

Visible light, radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet, x-rays, and gamma rays make up the electromagnetic spectrum. They all travel at the same speed — the speed of light — in a vacuum, but when they come into contact with matter, they slow down.

Electromagnetic waves, like other waves, experience reflection, refraction, absorption, transmission, diffraction, and interference. But unlike mechanical waves, electromagnetic waves can travel through empty space, as well as through liquids, solids, and gases.

Light interacts with matter. It travels in straight lines out from its source in all directions until it encounters a different region or material with different properties. At that point, it can change speed and direction, a phenomenon known as refraction.

Different materials cause different levels of refraction. A material with a high refractive index means light slows down a great deal when it hits that material. Some materials, like prisms, cause different wavelengths of light to move at different speeds. This disperses, or separates, the wavelengths into different colors.

A preview of each game in the learning objective is found below.

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