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  • Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

    Book Chapter |

    This chapter features Physical sciences StEMT lessons. This lesson is based on the classic misconception about reflections in mirrors with regard to distance. We use this same lesson to demonstrate STEM to our new…

  • Curved Mirrors

    Book Chapter |

    This inquiry activity will be used before discussing curved mirrors in class. Students will discover how curved mirrors act and how the size and the orientation of the image are related to the distance from the mirror.…

  • The clamshell mirrors

    Book Chapter |

    A very popular physics toy consists of two concave spherical mirrors facing each other like the shells of a clam. If a coin or button is placed on the surface of the lower mirror, its image appears in the hole at the…

  • Mirror on the Wall

    Book Chapter |

    The purpose of this assessment probe is to elicit students’ ideas about reflection of light. It can be used to examine how students use ideas about light to explain how we see objects in a mirror. Elementary school…

  • A Mirror Big Enough

    Book Chapter |

    This story is designed to motivate students to explore how mirrors work and how mirrors reflect the light—first reflected from objects to the mirror and then to our eyes as images—and to discover in this particular case…

  • Mirror full of water

    Book Chapter |

    “It’s done with mirrors.” Whether we attend magic shows or ride the “Haunted Mansion,” we are often surprised and pleased by clever manipulations of images. This chapter looks at the image produced by a concave mirror…

  • Optics and Mirrors: Challenging Learners' Illusions

    Book Chapter |

    Science depends on empirical evidence, logical argument, and skeptical review. Optical illusions challenge us to consider if our eyes sometimes play tricks on us. In this activity, coins dropped into a magic bank appear…

  • Idea Bank: Mirror, Mirror

    Journal Article |

    The Idea Bank provides tips and techniques for creative teaching, in about 1,000 words. In this month’s Idea Bank learn about demonstrations using concave mirrors.

  • Science 102: Mirror, Mirror

    Journal Article |

    An exercise about reflection to challenge content knowledge.

  • The Magic Mirror

    Journal Article |

    In “The Magic Mirror” lessons described here, children explore reflection and mirror phenomena in the environment. They make a mirror, explore a hinged mirror with its many images, and look at symmetries. The activities…

  • Editorial: Smoke and Mirrors

    Journal Article |

    It seems that every year, the author sees more examples in television, movies, and even books of dislike, distrust, and disdain of the field of science. In “real” life, she teaches increasing numbers of students…

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