Mirrors
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Approach: One to one Level: Year 4 and year 8
Focus: Investigating mirrors
Resources: Mirror (flexible plastic sheet with mirror surface), picture
488Kb
Questions/instructions:  


Give the student the mirror.

This is a mirror. You can bend it gently in different ways. Have a look at your face in it. Now bend the mirror towards you so that the mirror makes a U-shape. This is called a concave mirror.

[Click on graphic to enlarge.]

 
% responses
2007 ('03)
y4
y8
1. How does the shape of your face change in the concave mirror?
    
 
is wider, bigger
63 (68)
71 (76)
face/image is doubled when mirror is sharply curved
34 (33)
30 (30)
Now bend the mirror the other way so the edges are away from you. This is called a convex mirror.
2. How does the shape of your face change in the convex mirror?
 
is taller, skinner
88 (89)
94 (94)
Try bending the mirror other ways to see how it changes your face.
Give student picture.
Have a careful look at the mirror in this shop.
3. Why do you think they used a convex mirror?
 
see more of shop/wider view
35 (49)
67 (80)
to catch shoplifters/watch people in shop
[not counted in total score]
68 (57)
60 (56)

Total score:
4
8 (9)
14 (19)
3
29 (37)
44 (50)
2
43 (40)
33 (24)
1
17 (12)
8 (6)
0
3 (2)
1 (1)
Subgroup Analysis [Click on charts to enlarge] :
Year 4
Year 8
Commentary:
There was a small decline in performance on this task between 2003 and 2007 at both year levels.