Are you about to start exploring the electromagnetic spectrum with your students? Choosing the right the electromagnetic spectrum activity for your lesson plans can be a task! Waves are one of the topics that your middle school students will love or hate (probably you too, right?!). It can be a little dry and abstract, harder to understand, but there are ways to get students excited about this topic and interested to learn more!
Seeing how visible light is just a tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum can be a WOW moment for students. You can explore the fascinating science behind the rest of the spectrum with these 5 engaging activities that help bring understanding to the invisible world of electromagnetic energy.
First, I will share some introductory activities for students to being to WONDER more about the electromagnetic spectrum. Then, I will share a fun interactive lesson to guide students through deeper into parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Finally, I will share some ways to widen student knowledge on the electromagnetic spectrum and electromagnetic waves.
Time to get students excited about learning this topic. Choose the electromagnetic spectrum activity that works best for you to introduce this in a fun and engaging way!
Students are aware of visible light, or at least most are able to see or are aware that there are things to see! However, they may not realize that there are other forms of light or other forms of radiation.
As the teacher, you can introduce them to another form of light, infrared, by conducting a demonstration to create an infrared telescope.
This demo is from a NASA site. Get more details here!
This lab demo does take a bit of set up and requires equipment. If you can pull it off, it is an engaging way to learn about another form of electromagnetic waves that students are not familiar with. This will help then to WONDER about what else is out there!
If you are looking for something with a little less prep that is still engaging, I got you!
Print out pictures of the following items:
Once you print these pictures out, place them all around your classroom. Have your students to walk around the room to look at the pictures.
As they are walking around, have them to think of the following question: What do all of these pictures have in common?
After students finish walking around and brainstorming, have them to talk with a partner or a group about what they think these things have in common, then have them share with the class.
Some of them may realize that they are all involved the electromagnetic spectrum, but some may be wondering. They may be wondering what the electromagnetic spectrum is. Now, it’s time to dive into the lesson!
How is the electromagnetic spectrum organized? How much of the electromagnetic spectrum is visible light? How is electromagnetic spectrum used in everyday life? These are all questions that students may have and can be answered with an interactive lesson!
Interactive lessons are a great way to get students engaged and excited about a topic. Interactive lessons are created with the middle school brain in mind. They help students learn bit by bit for better retention. How? These lessons are designed to be broken into chunks with activities embedded to review the material as students go through them.
This particular Electromagnetic Spectrum Lesson reviews what the electromagnetic spectrum includes, the electromagnetic spectrum definition, diagram of the electromagnetic spectrum, wavelengths, increasing frequency, decreasing wavelengths, each type of electromagnetic wave, and more!
The interactive activities that are embedded include a KWL, text box questions, outside resources, drag-and-drop, four corners vocabulary, and more!
Skip the electromagnetic spectrum activity worksheet and try this lesson and activity!
Geiger Counters are a great way for students to explore sources of radiation and measure radiation levels in the environment. With simple-to-use and relatively inexpensive portable detector kits, students can detect low-level gamma and X-rays, and watch in real-time as the detectors’ readings change with different sources of radiation. Once they understand the basics of how Geiger counters work, they can then begin to explore further and design their own experiments with radioactive materials.
Don’t have the means to do this? Show your students a video!
As humans, we’ve been able to use different wavelengths to explore space. This is an opportunity to intertwine different topics and help students see the connections between the material.
You can have students work individually or in groups but have them to research different NASA explorations that use different wavelengths to explore space.
Here are some examples for students to research:
You can make this as simple or as complicated as you want. Have students research and share out, create a poster or a presentation, or anything. There are many options! This may just be the electromagnetic spectrum assignment your students fall in love with!
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