Last week, 3S were investigating what opaque and transparent materials were.

Firstly, we discussed what these words meant. Transparent means light rays can travel through the chosen material like a window. Opaque means the lights rays are not able to travel through the chosen material like a brick. 

As part of this lesson, the children went on a learning walk around the academy searching high and low for different materials which were opaque or transparent. They did a tremendous job at finding many materials along the way. 

As our lesson came to a close, to get our brains thinking, Mr Fleckney asked Riley to be a 'light source', which is something that emits light. Riley chose to be the sun. We then used string to represent the light rays and placed different objects and materials in the way. We placed a paper book, a wooden pencil, and a set of glasses in front of the light source. We had to work out if the light would travel through these or not. We concluded that the light ray could not travel through the paper book or wooden pencil as the materials they are made from are opaque, but they would travel through the glasses as they are transparent. 

 

Emily said, "I had so much fun! We went all over school looking for things that the light rays travel through. Did you know they were called transparent?"

Charlie said, "It was a bit chilly outside, but I forgot all about it because I was enjoying our science lesson".

Guenhwyvar said, "So, opaque means the light rays are unable to travel through the materials and transparent means the light can go through. There are definitely more opaque things in our school than transparent for sure!"

Well done 3S! 

3S Opaque and Transparent