Studying the Laws of Reflection with reference to Plane Mirrors

Duration: 90 minutes

Grade: VIII/IX

1. Objective

To refresh students’ understanding about the laws of reflection and apply that knowledge to plane mirrors by involving them in simple activities.

2. Learning Outcomes

The students will be able to apply the laws of reflection with reference to plane mirrors.

3. Summary of the Module

The teacher should introduce the students to the concept of angles. The associated worksheet is to be used to ensure that the students are able to draw and measure angles with precision.

The teacher should demonstrate how light is reflected by a plane mirror. The students should observe the path of the light when it is reflected by a plane mirror and infer that the angle of incidence is always equal to the angle of reflection. During the demonstration, the teacher should introduce related terminologies, such as “Incident ray”, “Reflected ray”, and “Normal”.

The students, divided in groups, should use a simple experimental setup to measure the angles of reflection for given angles of incidence. Following this, the students are to choose angles of incidence on their own and measure the corresponding angles of reflection. The students are also expected to give reasons for their observations.

In a simple diagrammatic assessment, the students will be asked to identify the reflected ray for a given incident ray, draw the normal, and draw the reflected ray for given incident rays. This assessment will help the teacher assess the students’ level of understanding about the laws of reflection.