Omar's Time to Shine
EiE unit, Lighten Up: Designing Lighting Systems
Omar is not thrilled with the small part he has in his school’s dance performance. Just once, he’d like to be the star and show everyone what he can do.
Omar’s brother, Zane, is an optical engineer working at the famous Valley of the Tombs in Egypt. While accompanying Zane on a trip to the tombs, Omar watches a documentary being filmed and learns about the lighting systems used by the filmmakers. The ways that materials interact with light through reflection and absorption need to be controlled by the crew. All of this information becomes important when there is a brownout that dims the lights in the auditorium on the night of the school dance performance. Can Omar use all that he’s learned about light and optical engineering to save the show?
Readers are encouraged to design and improve their own lighting system. With some creativity and knowledge of the engineering design process, everyone can engineer!
The Lighten Up: Designing Lighting Systems unit has been specifically designed to accompany a science unit on light.
