Classifying materials

Objectives:

• To provide an opportunity for students to experiment and observe
• To identify and classify materials as transparent, translucent and opaque materials

Materials required:

Transparent plastic sheet, Cardboard sheet, Glass, Plastic glass, Wooden piece, pencil, notebook, piece of cloth, water bottle, folder file, torch, Laser light

Content:

Substances can be classified based on the transmission of light through them. Transparent objects allow light to pass through completely , Translucent objects partially allow light to pass through creating a blurry view, while Opaque objects block all light from passing through making them completely non transparent.

Process:

• Let each group see through the above objects/materials and pass torchlight through these materials. Let children document their observation in the worksheet provided.
• Ask students to group the objects in 3 groups based on its ability to see through them and allow light to pass through it.
• Encourage students to guess the name given to those materials/introduce the names transparent/semi-transparent and opaque substances to students.
• Let students come up with their own definition for transparent/semi-transparent/opaque substances based on their observation recorded in the table.
• Encourage children to give examples from their surroundings to each of the categories and reason for the same.