Sponsors:
Acton-Boxborough 2000-2001
A Light House of LensesPowerpoint Presentation | Meet the team
The Exhibit
This exhibit consists of a hexagonal tower with a light bulb inside, all on a tabletop. Four sides of the tower has openings to let light out onto the tabletop. Children can place various lenses, slide, mirrors, or color filters to see what those optical elments do to light.
The Design Process
The team began looking at cameras, which evolved into an exhibit about lenses and light. After focusing on an idea about a light house, they built prototypes out of cardboards to explore the best use of space. After two prototypes, the team decided on a hexagonal tower that allowed many children to use the exhibit at the same time.
During prototyping, the team also encountered some challenges. The first question was how to deal with the heat that the light bulb was generating? The girls decided to incorporate air vents and a cooling fan into their design to manage the heat. Another question was how can we reduce the amount of natural light around the exhibit? The team's final design has walls that surround the table on two sides to create a shade.
The team quotes, "lots of fun ideas differed with each other and clients turned out to be a team experience and learned about team work."
Related Links
How Light Works
[http://www.howstuffworks.com/light.htm]Explore Science Optics
[http://www.explorescience.com/activities/
activity_list.cfm?categoryID=8]Light
[http://www.thinkquest.org/library/lib/
site_sum_outside.html?tname=28160&url=28160/english/]Patterns in Nature Light
[http://acept.la.asu.edu/PiN/mod/light/
pattLightOptics.html]
