Spectrum Lab is a modular technology-enabled curriculum that, over 3-8 class periods, engages high school students in authentic investigations about light, color, and spectra using real data and online data visualization tools.

Dear Educator,

Welcome to the Spectrum Lab! Whether you teach Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry, Astronomy, or Biology - you probably spend some of your class time helping students understand light, color, and the electromagnetic spectrum.

Spectrum Lab consists of 5 modules and 3 suggested Final Projects where students can apply these concepts to real-world phenomena by immersing them in spectroscopy - the universal analytical tool of science (and art, as students discover in the Museum Conservation final project). Educators can select the Spectrum Lab modules that best suit their classes.

1. Light

How does the interaction of light and matter affect the colors we see? Students make predictions as they explore light and color with hands-on materials including colored filters, and with the PhET color vision simulation. The Photon Model is introduced to explain emission, reflection, absorption, transmission. Students are asked to make sense of phenomena they observe with the colored filters using these concepts.

2. Spectra

How can a spectrum tell us more than our eyes can perceive? Students make their own spectroscopes using diffraction gratings and paper towel tubes, and are introduced to the online Spectrum Lab visualization tool to explore how spectrum graphs relate to what they see through their spectroscopes. The session focuses mostly on learning and practicing how to interpret spectrum graphical plot representations and how they relate to measured quantities such as wavelength, energy, and brightness.

3. Color

How can spectra tell us what color things are? Human eyes (and brains) perceive an object to be a certain color based on the specific combination of visible wavelengths and energies that the object emits, reflects, absorbs, and transmits. A spectrum can tell you whether that banana is yellow because it only reflects yellow light, or because it reflects a combination of green and red light.

4. Temperature

What can spectra tell us about an object’s temperature? Students explore the features of thermal emission spectra - both theoretical models (so-called blackbody radiation curves), and actual spectra coming from stars of different temperature, from light bulbs, and the infrared emission spectra of the Earth as acquired from a space telescope.

5. Composition

How can spectra tell us what things are made of? Students examine real emission and absorption line spectra of different gases and are introduced to the Bohr model of quantized atomic energy levels as a way to make sense of how these kinds of spectra can be used to identify particular atoms. This module ends with an activity in which students can explore real spectral data (reflection, emission, and atmospheric transmission spectra) from multiple solar system planets and practice interpreting what these spectra tell them about the color, temperature, and atmospheric composition of these planets.

Final projects

The Spectrum Lab Module includes a choice of 3 Final Projects that serve as authentic performance assessments for students to synthesize and apply the concepts and skills learned during the unit. Each project can be completed by students using the Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning framework.

Fishtank

Students synthesize information about the reflection spectra of colorful fish; the lighting needs of chlorophyll-containing algae and coral; and the emission spectra of fish tank LEDs. Their task: Design a healthy and eye-pleasing aquarium, choosing a lighting scheme and using spectral data to explain their choices.

Exoplanets

Students analyze published low-resolution spectra of real exoplanets and compare them to hi-res solar system and theoretical model spectra to determine the atmospheric composition of alien worlds trillions of miles away. Their task: Create a winning proposal for the IR-observing James Webb Space Telescope to obtain spectra from an exoplanet target of their choice.

Museum conservation

Students investigate how paint pigments reflect light at different wavelengths and learn how museum conservators use spectroscopy to identify materials and make decisions about how to best care for and restore the artwork. Their task: Create a museum display that conveys how spectra are used in art conservation.

Playground

This feature of the Spectrum Lab allows teachers and students to flexibly access, analyze, and compare data from a curated database of over 100 spectra in multiple categories (Stars, Planets, Lamps, Nature, Atoms & Molecules, Thermal Emission). It also features the capability to upload new data, allowing teachers to design their own projects, and students to investigate questions of personal interest.