Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
UNIT: Energy
LESSON # 2
TITLE: Albedo and Plants Need Light
Summary: Children will begin an experiment
NASA Source:
Grade level:
Time:
Children
Learning
Outcomes:
showing what happens to plants when
light is blocked and do a short activity
showing how color affects the heat
absorbed from light.
Adapted from NASA’S Windows to the
Universe – “Looking into Surface Albedo”
<http://www.windows2universe.org/teac
her_resources/teach_icealbedo.html> and
NASA’S “Real World: The Light Plants
Need”
<http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/474243main_
RW8-LightPlantsNeed_508.pdf>
3-5
Total time: 70 minutes
Snack & introduction:
10 minutes
Albedo:
25 minutes
Plants need light:
30 minutes
Journal and cleanup:
5 minutes
Children will learn that:
 Dark colors get hotter in the sun than
light colors.
 Darker colors turn more light energy
into heat energy than light colors.
 Plants use the energy in sunlight to
grow.
Children will engage in and thereby
strengthen a number of scientific
practices such as:
 Measuring temperature.
 Observing and recording
observations.
Children will be able to (cultural goals):
 Relate overall science learning goals
to the context of their schools,
families, and community.
 Communicate ideas, collaborate with
other children, and learn in a
personally meaningful way.
Materials:
for albedo
Item
Black & white
construction
paper
Thermometer
Stapler
Lamp with
100 watt bulb
Quantity per
trio
½ sheet each
2
½ sheet
1
for plants need light
Item
Quantity per
trio
Green plant
with healthy
1
green leaves
Paper clips
3–6
Black
construction
½ sheet
paper
Scissors
1
Between sessions you need to be
able to put plants on a shelf or
table where they get plenty of
sunlight and someone to water
the plants as needed.
Word Wall:
Include following words in
discussion (in both English and
Spanish), orally defined in
understandable terms, and
visibly displayed. If possible,
project a large image of the
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
Big Questions:  How does color effect how much light

Lesson format:
National
Standards
Addressed:
is reflected or turned into heat?
Do plants need sunlight?
Discussion and hands-on activity.
This activity relates to the following
standards from the Next Generation
Science Standards:
MS-PS1-4. Develop a model that predicts
and describes changes in particle
motion, temperature, and state of a
pure substance when thermal energy is
added or removed.
K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the
relationship between the needs of
different plants or animals (including
humans) and the places they live.
2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an
investigation to determine if plants
need sunlight and water to grow.
5-PS3-1. Use models to describe that
energy in animals’ food (used for body
repair, growth, motion, and to
maintain body warmth) was once
energy from the sun.
words (and associated pictures)
on the wall of the teaching area.
 Sunlight
 Thermometer
 Temperature
 Albedo
 Reflect
 Absorb
 Chlorophyll
 Plant
• Sol
• Termómetro
• Temperatura
• Albedo
• Reflejar
• Absorber
• Clorofila
• Planta
DIRECTIONS:
Overview: This session involves three parts and one take-home activity:
1)
2)
3)
4)
Introduce the lesson.
First, the children test the effect of color on heating by light.
Children set up an experiment to test the effect of light deprivation on plant leaves.
Instruction for Take-home Kit/activity.
Steps:
LESSON INTRODUCTION (10 minutes)

At the beginning of the session (during snack, if provided), tell children that today
they will be learning about how dark and light colors make a difference in how the
sun heats the Earth and start to look at how plants use sunlight. Remind the children
that by learning about energy from the sun, they will gain a better overall
understanding of climate change, because the sun provides the energy that drives
our climate.
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
LESSON LEARNING TASKS (60 minutes)
Albedo (25 minutes)
Procedure
1. Remind children that the sun shining on the Earth heats the Earth. Ask them on a
sunny, hot day, what color would they wear to stay cool? What color might make
them feel hot?
2. Tell them that today they will do an experiment to see how color effects how much
light is turned into heat.
3. Have each group make a pocket to place the thermometers in; one with the black
paper and one with the white paper. Use the stapler to hold the pocket together.
4. Place the pockets with the thermometers placed inside under the light. Four pockets
should fit under each light. The pockets should be 6 to 12 inches or so from the
lights. Make sure they all get about the same amount of light.
5. Check the thermometer temperatures at the beginning. Check each thermometer
again at about 2 minute intervals. You should see a marked difference after 8
minutes.
6. After the experiments discuss the results with the children. Ask them which color
made the temperature hotter? Tell them that with light colors like white, most of the
light just bounces off (is reflected) from things. With dark colors like black, more of
the light is absorbed by the paper and turned into heat.
7. Tell them that things that are light and reflect a lot of light have a high albedo.
“White clouds are high and have a high albedo.”
Dark things that turn a lot of the light into heat have a low albedo. “Soil is low and
dark and has a low albedo.”
8. Ask the children to name some things in the world that they think have a high or low
albedo. For instance, snow has a high albedo. Asphalt roads have a low albedo.
Plants Need Light (30 minutes)
Introductory discussion
The facilitator starts this part of the activity by discussing the following questions:
1. Do you think plants need sunlight? Why or why not?
2. What do you think will happen if plants do not get sunlight?
Ask children to share their ideas to answer the first question, “Do plants need sunlight?” and
where those ideas came from.
Most children will probably agree that plants need light. Tell them that today, we will start an
experiment that helps answer the second question, “What do you think will happen if plants
do not get sunlight?”
Today, we will start an experiment that will take a week to see the results.
Procedure
 Give each pair or small group of 3–4 children a plant. Have them cut out of the
black construction paper 4 square or oval pieces. Cover up 2 leaves on the
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
healthy green plant with the black construction paper pieces, one on top of the
leaf and one piece on the bottom of the leaf. Secure the papers on the leaf with
paper clips.
 Have children look at their leaves to make sure that the entire leaf area on top
and on the bottom is covered up and will not be able to get any sunlight.
 The facilitator will leave the plants on the windowsill or table top for a week.
Water the plants when needed.
Tell the children that you will leave the plants in a spot that they will get sunlight and water
them when needed. They will get a chance to see what happens in next week’s session.
Conclude session by asking what they learned, what new words, share personal stories on
cold and hot experiences!
Journaling and cleanup (5 minutes)
Have children draw a picture of their plant with the black paper on it.
ASSESSMENT:
 Ongoing, through the discussion and activities: monitor children’s usage and
understanding of words and ideas related to today’s lesson. Ask supporting questions
to encourage children to make connections. Clarify misconceptions.
 Demonstrations of understanding: do any drawings, writing, theater, etc., display
sophisticated, accurate understanding of today’s lesson? Were children able to make
personal connections to the ideas? Were children able to make connections to prior
lessons?
 Take-Home work (assessed following week): did children follow through and discuss
the lesson with their families, bring a related show and tell object, and/or make a
drawing/other art project related to today’s lesson? Did discussion around these things
show continuing understanding of the ideas, including making connections to prior
lessons and to community?
 Do children’s understandings, as displayed by their demonstrations of understanding,
questions, and discussion show connections between today’s topic, and the big picture
of the unit topic?
 Photograph objects and save drawings brought in for sharing in individual child’s
portfolio. Do the artifacts in the portfolio demonstrate an increasing trajectory of
understanding about the elements of the Earth System over time? Do children show
understanding of climate change? Do children show personal connections, including
self, school, family, and community, to their understandings of climate change?
RELATED NASA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES:
Global Balance: The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change
http://strategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/GlobalBalance_May02.pdf
This module is a set of 6 “activities and experiments (that) demonstrates the importance of
feedbacks and the balance of mass and energy in governing the response of any system to
change.”
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
PBS LearningMedia™: Seasons on Earth
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/ess05.sci.ess.earthsys.lp_seasons/seasonsonearth/?utm_source=teachersdomain_redirect%2Fresource%2Fess05.sci.ess.earthsys.lp_se
asons%2Futm_medium=teachersdomain%2Fresource%2Fess05.sci.ess.earthsys.lp_season
s%2Futm
“In this lesson, students use class discussion, interactive activities, hands-on activities, and
videos to learn about the seasons, Earth's motion, and the role of its tilted axis. Students
also study satellite data showing seasonal changes of plant life and explore an example of
long-term natural climate change.” Designed for 3 class periods.
NASA eClipsTM Educator Guide; NASA’S REAL WORLD: The Light Plants Need
http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/474243main_RW8-LightPlantsNeed_508.pdf
In this investigate activity students observe the effects of different wavelengths of light on
plant growth.
NASA SUMMER OF INNOVATION; UNIT Life Science-Plants: Light Effects on Plant Behavior
http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/562188main_LS4_Light-Effects-PlantBehavior_C1.pdf
“This lesson integrates a series of activities, which investigates the principals of
photosynthesis and effects of light on plants.”
Radiation Budget Lesson: Exploring Albedo
http://science-edu.larc.nasa.gov/EDDOCS/scierbe.html
By experiment and guided discussion, children realize that because white is "brighter" (i.e.,
has a higher albedo), it is correspondingly cooler; black garments reflect little sunlight and
are thus warmer. This is related to the Earth’s energy budget.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The sun provides the vast majority of energy on the Earth. With the exception of relatively
small amounts of energy provided by geothermal sources and by nuclear processes, all heat
and power sources can be traced back to the sun.
The sun radiates energy in all directions. One part in two billion makes it to the Earth. The
sun’s energy travels to the Earth as light, both visible and invisible as in ultraviolet (UV)
and infrared radiation. When that light gets to the Earth, about half of it is reflected back
into space; 20% by clouds, 5% by the atmosphere and 5% from the Earth’s surface. Most of
the rest of the light is absorbed and turned into heat; 20% is absorbed by the atmosphere
and 49%, by the Earth’s surface. A very small percent is converted into chemical energy by
photosynthesis in plants and a very tiny percent is converted directly into electricity by
solar cells. This absorbed light energy is converted into heat; which warms the Earth and
its atmosphere. Some of this heat can escape back to space as infrared radiation. However,
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and water vapor trap some of this
infrared radiation and help to warm the Earth.
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
As heat energy is added to substances their temperature rises. Conversely, when heat
energy leaves a substance, the temperature falls. Temperature is actually a measure of the
heat energy density of an object, which, on a molecular scale, is proportional to the average
energy of motion (kinetic energy) of the molecules.
Sunlight heats objects on the Earth by converting some of the incoming light energy into
heat energy. Light colored objects reflect much of the incoming light and therefore do not
get very hot. Dark objects absorb much more of the incoming light and convert it to heat.
This quality of reflectivity is called albedo. Snow and ice reflect 80%–90% of the incoming
light back to space. They are said to have high albedo. Dark land masses such as those
covered by forests reflect only 10%–20% of the light. They are highly absorptive and are
said to have low albedo. Earth’s albedo is an important determinant in global warming.
Heating is not the only use of solar energy. Plants use the energy in sunlight (along with
water and carbon dioxide) to make their own food using a complex chemical process called
photosynthesis. The cells in a plant’s leaves trap light energy. These cells are called
chloroplasts, and they contain a green pigment called chlorophyll. In fact, chlorophyll is
formed only when there is light. Chlorophyll plays a role in capturing the sun’s energy.
Plants use the energy of the sun to change water and carbon dioxide that are in the plants'
leaves into a sugar and organic compounds which are the main food plants use to live and
grow.
CULTURAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Energy conforms our universe and everything in it!
The use of energy sources by humans (beyond their own physical capacity) begins with the
energy from the SUN and the discovery of fire!
It is believed that after seeing that curved mirrors were able to concentrate the sun’s rays,
Chinese, Romans and Greeks found that they could use the concentrated energy on any
object. The principle of the so-called "solar heat trap", was further utilized in what is
thought of as the very first attempt to use solar energy to cook!
LESSON CONNECTIONS
This lesson is tied to ideas in other lessons:
In Lesson 1 (The Sun and Temperature), children view a web-based slide show to learn
about the sun and then practice measuring temperature.
In Lesson 3 (A Model Greenhouse), children experience what happens in a model
greenhouse so that they can better understand what is meant by the greenhouse effect.
Developed by CLACE- PI Marina La Grave, Dr. Barry Kluger-Bell and Kristine Johnson
In Lesson 4 (Solar Cooking and Fire from the Sun), children build a simple solar oven and
use it to make nachos. While the nachos are cooking, children use a lens to focus sunlight to
burn paper.
In Lesson 5 (Food Energy), children will learn about the energy in food by discussion and
viewing a demonstration of burning a tortilla chip. Then children will learn about their
body’s use of energy by running or jumping rope to burn the number of calories in a tortilla
chip.