I love STEM projects that give students the ability to see science in motion and give concrete experience with the material that they are studying in a hands-on way. Tech Light Lab is a self-contained light refracting lab kit that gives students the hands-on experience with light. It sounds so simple, but it is such a neat concept. The kit comes with 3 lights (red, blue, and green), batteries, 3 lenses (concave, convex, & trapezoid), a protractor, diffraction grating sheet, 2 mirrors, and activity guide booklet. It comes with everything needed, including batteries, to do many of the activities. For some activities, you may need some additional items that are commonly found around the home such as paper, blankets, construction paper, foil, etc. The kit retails for $49.00.

A few examples of the concepts grasped through the lessons provided are that light allows us to see, originates from a source, travels in straight lines, spreads out the further away it is from the source, does different things when it hits different kinds of materials (absorbed/transmitted), and that the shape of a lens impacts how the light will bend. The Laser Classroom website has a plethora of helpful tools as well that add depth to the lessons.

My children enjoyed seeing how the light created shadows and new colors depending on the distance between the lights and the lenses. They also enjoyed the first lesson where they go into a cave and search for different colored paper dolls in the dark. My kids thought they would be able to find the foil doll first since it was shiny and were surprised that they could not see any of the dolls in the dark without some sort of light. The kit did a great job taking complex principles, such as wavelengths and frequency, and translating them to kids in a tangible way, via jumping, marching, etc.

As a homeschool parent, I enjoyed that this kit was pretty ready-to-go right outside the box and that in even included batteries. The lessons are simple enough that they don’t take too much prep time, though I do not recommend just jumping in without reading the guide and lessons and prepping a little in advance first. I really enjoy that there are lessons that can be taught to my elementary students as well as to my junior higher. The science of light is used in many career fields, including communication systems, space exploration, and crime solving. This kit could open up a world of possibilities for your student or at the very least, be a really fun way of learning about light.

-Product review by Audrey Tolle, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, February, 2018