Key Information
About the content
This is an Exploratorium Teacher Institute professional development course open to any science teacher (particularly middle or high school level) and light enthusiast. Participants will engage in hands-on STEM activities that allow them to directly experience natural phenomena and gain an understanding of how the Exploratorium helps people learn.
Syllabus
To understand light, we must understand how our eyes and brain perceive and make sense of it. We’ll look at illusions that illuminate how the eye and the brain use light to construct models of the natural world.
Week Two: Optics
Make images using lenses and mirrors, and do a deep dive into the fascinating world of optics.
Week Three: What is light? A historical tour
Explore the nature of light by doing simple modern versions of classical experiments following light from particle to wave to quantum object.
Week Four: The wave nature of light
Explore the modern view of light: see light as a wave and as a photon.
If you wish to earn a Statement of Accomplishment, you'll need to take what you’ve learned in this class and submit a mini-lesson for peer review and evaluation. You can adapt one of our activities or come up with your own, but you must try things out! In return, you'll get valuable feedback and tips from the instructors and other students in the class.
Instructors
- Zeke Kossover - Exploratorium Teacher Institute
- - Exploratorium Teacher Institute
- Paul Doherty - Teacher Institute
Content Designer
Platform
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.
