Try, try again...

From Noah to Descartes to Newton, rainbows have fascinated people for years. And no less do they fascinate Joey and Ezra. During our prior-to-school's-start brainstorming sessions, when the boys revealed some of the topics they wanted to cover during their school exploration times (like volcanoes and bugs), the rainbow was second on the list. But, how do you cover such a complex topic of physics with such young children?

Recently, a line from Walter Lewin's For the Love of Physics has been resonating in my mind. He says, "What counts, I found, is not what you cover, but what you uncover" (2011:2). He continues, "Uncovering the laws of physics and making them see through the equations,... demonstrates the process of discovery, with all its newness and excitement..." His observations apply to any subject at hand. It's the passion, the discovery, and the applicable meaning that we harbor in our hearts during learning. And for young children, that means hands-on and up-close.

Obviously, I employ manipulatives in my teaching. The more experiments and activities (beyond worksheets and the ordinary), the better. But, any scientist-at-heart will tell you that experiments and trial-and-error go hand-in-hand. So, in order to cover rainbows, I turned to some great books* with experiments on light, prisms, and refraction. Some of these were major failures (yes, homeschoolers have those), but that's where the best parts of learning come in: perseverance and creativity. We worked together to brainstorm ways to make our experiments work and tried again, and even again. That's where the successes occurred (yes, homeschoolers have those, too).

Joey w/ his snap circuit color wheel.  senk 2013

We began our exploration on how rainbows are made with bending light. I wanted Joey to see how light bends, because that's how it happens inside a raindrop. So, we followed Science Lab: The Ultimate Science Pack and completed "Laboratory 6: Which Way Does Light Go?" This experiment worked really well and Joey had a splendid time using multiple mirrors and using his imagination to explore bending light. The next obvious step was to experiment with a prism and allow sunlight to create a spectrum on the floor, on the wall, on our hands. The boys were delighted to look for spectrums and Joey wanted to draw one. So, I introduced him to Roy G Biv, that scintillating character many of us learned about in Art Class. We combined paints so Joey could see how secondary colors were created from primary colors (here, I'm referring to the pigment-based primaries: red, blue, and yellow; and yes, we also explored the primary colors of light - red, blue, and green - too); and, we talked about Newton and explored Newton's color wheel. It took three attempts before we finally got the colors to vanish into the all-inclusive white, indicative of sunlight.

A closer view of his set-up.  senk 2013

With "Laboratory 5: Vanishing Colors" of Science Lab, we focused on the concept of white light being a combination of many different colors. But, this experiment was based on creating a top that would spin to blur the spectrum into white. While it's good in theory, in actuality, we could not spin the top fast enough for white to result. So, I spearheaded another experiment from The Optics Book: Fun Experiments with Light, Vision & Color by Levine & Johnstone (1998). The idea was to create a Rainbow Wheel that twisted on string between your fingers. Another good idea in theory, but we just couldn't twist the wheel fast enough to see white from the spectrum. So, what could we do? Then, the Eureka moment came: Joey's snap circuit set! Using the red rotating wheel, Joey set up a circuit that would allow the rotator to turn really fast. I taped our color wheel to the rotator; Joey placed it just right; then, he flipped the switch. The rotating wheel was spinning so quickly we easily saw a spectrum of color zip into white light. How dazzling!

Of course, Joey was thrilled and so excited. And, while I was thrilled the experiment finally worked, I was more excited that Joey saw how (even over the course of a few days) it pays to persevere. I know there are going to be moments of frustration, exhaustion, and confusion in homeschooling; however, I also know that we never have those feelings without their opposites. So, let's toss a little courage into the mix and see what happens.

* Examples of books we read or used for these lessons (nota bene: this is just a sample; there are other competent resources - this is by no means an exhaustive list):

Arvetis, Chris & Carole Palmer, "What Is a Rainbow?" A Just Ask Book. 1983.

Barton, Chris. The Day-Glo Brothers: The True Story of Bob and Joe Switzer's Bright Ideas and Brand-New Colors. Watertown: Charlesbridge, 2009.

Burnie, David, "Light." Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Books. 1992, pp. 28-33.

Carle, Eric. Hello, Red Fox. 2001.

Levine, Shar & Leslie Johnstone. The Optics Book: Fun Experiments with Light, Vision & Color. New York: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc, 1998.

Lewin, Walter. For the Love of Physics: From the End of the Rainbow to the Edge of Time - A Journey Through the Wonders of Physics. New York: Free Press, 2011.

Science Universe Series, 1984."Sight, Light and Color," pp. 18-19, 26-27, 34-35, 47.

Stewart, Melissa. Why Do We See Rainbows? New York: Marshall Cavendish, 2009.