Which of the following would be the most suitable activity to introduce the…
2023
Which of the following would be the most suitable activity to introduce the concept of image formation in spherical mirrors in Class VII students?
- A.
Students are asked to observe their images at various positions in a plane mirror.
- B.
Students are asked to play with shiny, steel spoons and observe their images in it.
- C.
Students are explained the laws of reflection.
- D.
Students are explained the process of drawing ray diagrams in curved mirrors.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Concept
Introducing a new science concept to upper-primary learners follows the constructivist principle: a concept is best introduced through a concrete, hands-on, exploratory activity with a familiar object, letting learners observe the phenomenon first and build the idea from direct experience, before any formal definition, law, or abstract diagram is given.
Application to this item
The target concept is image formation in spherical (curved) mirrors. A shiny steel spoon is itself a spherical mirror an everyday one: its inner surface behaves like a concave mirror and its outer surface like a convex mirror. Letting learners play with a spoon and watch how their image changes (upright, inverted, magnified, diminished) as they move it gives a direct, age-appropriate, first-hand encounter with the very phenomenon to be introduced, so they observe before they are told.
Contrasting the alternatives
Observing one's image in a plane (flat) mirror explores the wrong kind of mirror a flat surface produces only an upright, same-size image and never shows the curved-mirror behaviour the concept is about.
Explaining the laws of reflection is teacher-led exposition of an abstract rule; it tells rather than lets learners discover, and is not an introductory activity.
Drawing ray diagrams for curved mirrors is a formal, abstract representation suited to consolidating the concept later, not to a learner's first encounter with it.
Result
The activity that lets Class VII learners directly explore image formation in a curved mirror using a familiar object is playing with shiny steel spoons and observing the images in them.