Daniel Atkins
ESC 350
March 26, 2012
Teaching Experiences and Reflections
Lesson Plan for Introducing Concave Mirror Ray Diagrams
Curriculum Link/Content: Physics 20, Core Unit III: Light, Reflections
Outcome(s): Students will increase their abilities to:
1. Draw diagrams of converging and diverging mirrors, showing the principal axis and important points
located on the principal axis for each.
2. Explain one way that spherical aberration can be corrected in a curved mirror.
3. Use the rules for drawing ray diagrams for converging and diverging mirrors (parallel-ray method) to
position an object on the principal axis and locate the position and other characteristics of the image.
4. Interpret the characteristics of an image from a ray diagram.
5. Demonstrate an understanding of the importance and use of a procedure of verification when using
ray diagrams.
6. Observe and explain that the image position in either a converging or a diverging mirror depends on
the location of the object.
7. Observe and explain that except for the image position, all other characteristics of an image formed in
a diverging mirror are independent of the object position.
8. Observe and explain that the characteristics of an image formed in a converging mirror depend on the
object position.
Indicator(s): Students will be able to do the following:
1. Draw ray diagrams for converging and diverging mirrors with all the important points located and
labelled.
2. Describe how to correct for spherical aberration using a line for diagrams and elliptical mirrors in real
applications.
3. Use four different ray rules.
4. Use PAST method for describing the characteristics of the image.
5. Determine the difference between concave and convex mirrors regarding ray diagrams.
World/Canada/Saskatchewan/Regina/School link/context: Students may use devices that use concave
and/or convex mirrors. An understanding of how these mirrors work with respect to the object and
image is essential for students build, design, modify, or fix these devices.
Students’ needs: Students should be shown a visual representation of the ray diagrams as well as a step
by step breakdown of how those rays work. To this end, the SMART board will be used to demonstrate
how concave and convex mirrors behave.
Student prior knowledge: Students have learned about light, ray theory, law of reflection, and plan
mirror ray diagrams. This knowledge will help them determine how ray diagrams can be applied to
concave and convex mirrors. Students will already be comfortable with ray diagrams to explain how
plane mirrors work.
Assessment(s): Formative assessment – Questioning will be used to determine how well students are
learning the content being covered. The teacher will also walk around the class and see how students
are filling out their notes handout. Summative assessment – students will be tested with a written
assignment the next day.
Activity/Lesson Delivery: Teacher will review the previous day’s content to answer students’ questions.
Students will be given a notes handout to follow along with in order to practice drawing out the ray
diagrams. The teacher will use the SMART board to present the concave and convex content.
Materials & Adaptations: SMART board presentation, student notes handouts
Estimated Timeline: 60 minutes (10 minutes for previous class review, 50 minutes for concave and
convex presentation)
Changes for next time: In the future, I hope to use an iPad (or an equivalent device) to access the
SMART board remotely. This way I can walk around the classroom and use the iPad to interact with
students. I will also keep track of the right side of the class more, as it seems to be a “blind side” for me.
Target: Distribution of Questions: I want to spread my questioning evenly around the classroom
without missing any students.
Target Feedback: Diagram shows tables divided up so that each box represents a student.
Summary of feedback from observer(s)
Review previous content
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Covered three problem questions from students
Covered two assignments
20 minute review, could this have been shorter
SMART board presentation
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Good job of using the students names while asking questions
You may need to repeat what the students say so that everyone hears the answer or question
When questioning, if you get a group that doesn’t know, go back to them
Excellent use of the SMART board
Spherical aberration may fit better earlier (before the rules and definitely before the examples)
You asked Jaeden a question and Kendal answered it. Is this OK?
You used parallel to mean different things, “rays are parallel” and “rays reflect parallel”
You ran out of time to finish the last example on the SMART presentation
The flame of the candle was hard to see on the white background, a different colour would solve
this
Spend time reviewing tomorrow
SMART Board Presentation
Student Notes Handout
Critical Analysis
This lesson was designed to introduce the ray diagrams of both concave and convex mirrors.
Students were already familiar with ray diagrams on plane mirrors from previous lessons. Using ray
diagrams is taught to grade 11 students as part of the third unit in physics 20.
I used the SMART board technology that was available in the physics classroom. The Smart board
allowed me to draw very precise diagrams with very straight rays. Using the “fade in” function, I was
able to hide the light rays until we had discussed where they should be as a class. This allowed the
students a chance to go from a blank ray diagram to a ray diagram with all the appropriate rays drawn
on it. Using the SMART board to present the ray diagram content meant that I had to spend a couple
hours the night before preparing the slides. The SMART board did allow me to cover much more
content in class because the time spent drawing the rays on the board was reduced to a simple “touch”
on the SMART board. However, the SMART board presentation also restricted my movement around
the classroom and therefore made classroom management more of a challenge. In the future, I hope to
use an iPad (or an equivalent device) to access the SMART board remotely. This way I can walk around
the classroom and use the iPad to interact with students. One last benefit of the SMART board
presentation is that it is easy to transfer the class notes onto the class wiki so that students who miss
the class can access them.
I spent too much time on the review from the previous class. I did not need to go into as much depth as
I did. I will try to strike a better balance between making questions clear and giving the answers away.
I tried to make a conscious effort to ask questions to the middle and right side of the classroom. I seem
to have a kind of “blind spot” on the right side of the class.