Science & Technology in Society

Grade 5 Science Curriculum

Unit of Study: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN SOCIETY
Suggested Time: Included with time spent on light & color

Content Standard 5.4 Humans have the capacity to build and use tools to advance the quality of their lives.

  • Advances in technology allow individuals to acquire new information about the world.

Essential Question:How do science and technology affect the quality of our lives?


Focus Question #1 How is the human eye like a camera?

Expected performances (B24)  The student will be able to:

a. compare and contrast the structures of the human eye with those of the camera.

 

Required Activities:

1. Students create a pinhole viewer and observe the effects on images.  Activity 3 “Pinhole Viewer”, DSMII Lenses and Mirrors, pg. 21  (B24a)

Teacher notes:  It is suggested that students keep science journals/notebooks.  (Refer to teacher resource Science Notebooks, Writing About Inquiry by Brian Campbell for appropriate models for written response and scientific drawings.)

 

Assessment:

Students complete a Venn diagram comparing the human eye and the camera.

Focus Question #2 What instruments can we use to enhance our vision?

Expected performances (B25)  The student will be able to:

a. use tools of magnification to see things we cannot see with the unaided eye.

b. describe the uses of different instruments such as eye glasses, magnifiers, periscopes and telescopes that enhance our vision.

c. explain how technology allows us to acquire new information about our world.

 

Required Activities:

1. Students explore the effect of different magnifiers and combinations of magnifiers (including loupes) on the appearance of a close but small object, such as newsprint, by questioning, making analogies, drawing and theorizing.  Activities from The Private Eye, Looking and Thinking by Analogy by Kerry Ruef, see Appendix.  (B25a,c)

2. Students explain how mirrors and lenses are used to bring unobservable images into view.  Activity:  “Making a Periscope”, NASA – see Appendix.  (B25b)

3. Students build a telescope and explain how lenses help us see objects far away.  “Assembling the refracting telescope” Exploring the Earth in Motion, Exploration 12, pg. 90 ARIES  (B25a,b,c)

4. Students use the internet to find out how eyeglasses/contacts improve vision.  (B25b)  (Technology Standard 3)

 

Assessment:

Students successfully build magnifiers and can describe through written response how convex and concave lenses work.

 

Vocabulary

• Concave lens – a lens that is thinner in the center and thicker at the edges, a shape that bends light outward

• Convex lens – a lens that is thicker in the center and thinner at the edges.  A shape that bends light inward

• Magnifier – a tool with a lens that makes things look larger so you can see them more clearly

• See LIFE unit on human senses and relate appropriate vocabulary for eye to parts of a camera

 

Resources Needed:

Student:

  • Magnifying glasses, convex and concave lenses, microscope, small telescope, mirrors (all included in kits)
  • Poster of the eye

Teacher:

  • PowerPoint tutorial for Teachers (see Appendix)

Internet:

www.howstuffworks.com (Type in item, click on “printable version” to print)

Hubble Space Telescope home page, color images and teacher information:  http://www.stsci.edu/public.html

 

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS

Art: Students draw objects seen with and without magnification.

Health: Students research eye wear and eye care.

Social Studies: Students research history of magnifiers, such as telescopes, periscopes, microscopes, etc.

Technology: Students research the Hubble Space Telescope.

 

Bold face indicates CORE expected performances to be assessed by CMT.

 

Ledyard Public Schools
Approved by Instructional Council on 4/10/2006