Light Investigation in the Adventure Primes (4-5 yr-old)
In the Reggio Emilia philosophy, a “big idea” is an overarching idea that inspires, unifies, and resonates with the children-- something that offers many possibilities for collaboration, study, and exploration.
Over the winter months teachers in Adventure Primes observed an emerging interest in the “big idea” of light. Children were noticing the way that sunlight reflected off the mirror disco balls hanging in the classroom and the way that light shining through magna-tiles casts a colorful shadow. Electric tea lights quickly became a sought-after material during free play.
We asked the children to share their ideas about light during snack time one morning:
What is light? What do you know about light?
N Light is a kind of reception that glows from the sun.
Ru It's something that the sun makes because the sun is a big ball of gas. Light helps you see.
V Light reflects. That means it bounces off things.
E Light is bright, like a lightbulb.
K In light bulbs they take hot air and oil and put it in the light bulb and it warms it up and becomes electricity. Then the light bulb works.
H Light is electricity.
K The electricity has to be plugged in.
Q Nature lights aren't plugged in.
F Light is a combination of fire. Fire is hot, but it looks like light.
Ro Well, I am kind of talking about Quincy's idea. Some nature lights are filled with fireflies.
Q There was a long time ago when they trapped fireflies to make a light and it still happens now.
K In the butt of a firefly there is light.
M Yeah, for real! They light up. I've seen it.
Another morning the children helped create two lists. The first list was “lights we see in nature,” while the second list focused on lights we know are created by people.
Lights we see in nature:
sun
fireflies
anglerfish
bioluminescent algae
stars
planets
moon
Lights we see that humans have created:
lightbulbs
light-up shoes
car headlights
Many children spoke about light coming from the sun and from electricity, but a new question emerged:
"Where does the light in fireflies come from?"
The Adventure Primes had so many interesting ideas!
H Fireflies are born with light. It comes from everything else that turns on and off.
No Maybe the cord goes to nature where the fireflies are in nature and then the fireflies touch it.
Q Maybe a long time ago they got shocked by a electric eel and that's how they get light.
K The sun's reflection on the moon is also a little bit of heat and that goes down to the earth. The heat transforms into light and the firefly touches it and gets light.
M The fireflies light up when they can't see in the dark.
F The sun shines on them, and the reflection of the moon is bouncing off the fireflies.
Ru When they turn off and you stand still sometimes they can run out of their light. They just can't get it back.
Q When you run it creates energy and they can light up.
The following day the Adventure Primes had the opportunity to "think and paint" some of their ideas about light:
No You can see the light from the flashlight inside it. [the magna tile vehicle]
Ma This is the light reflecting off the windshield of the monster truck.
F Light comes from nature so I made the sun. The ocean gets light in it, and there's light in the sky so I painted that, too.
R I painted the moon. The moon reflects the light from the sun. I made the moon into the Earth and this is the sun shining on it.
V This is the eclipse!
We borrowed many books about light from the library to read together, and created a light investigation area where the children could experiment with a variety of materials including flashlights, mirrors and prisms, laser pointers, and a projector.
Exploring freely with these materials, the Adventure Primes are noticing things like which objects reflect or refract light, which objects will cast a shadow or allow light to pass through, how to change the color of a flashlight beam, and what happens when you move a laser pointer or flashlight closer or further away from the wall or the floor.
The children continue to incorporate light into their play and conversations, and teachers continue to look for more opportunities to introduce experiences to support the “big idea” of light. We waited several weeks for a sunny and wind-free day to experiment with cyanotype printing-- using the power of the sun.
Where will the light lead us next?