FREE PRIMARY SCIENCE · Year 5
Lights out for turtles
How does light travel, and how can people use that knowledge to protect baby turtles?
Students discover how people worked out over a thousand years how we see, investigate why turtle hatchlings at Mon Repos in Queensland crawl the wrong way towards town lights and how the community responded, then design and test a shielded light that lights a path but can’t be seen from a turtle’s eye level. Lessons 1 and 2 need only a screen or printout, paper and pencils; lesson 3 uses a phone torch or torch, paper, cups and foil.
3 free lessons · Australian Curriculum v9
Lessons in this topic
Each lesson includes a teacher plan and activities. Check its materials label before teaching.
How do we see?
Does light come out of our eyes, or into them?
Open free interactive lesson →Hatchlings and the glow
Why do turtle hatchlings crawl towards town lights, and what can a community do about it?
Open free interactive lesson →Design a turtle-safe light
Can we shield a light so it lights a path but can’t be seen from a turtle’s eye level?
Open free interactive lesson →
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