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KS2 Science textbook

Chapter 7: Light travels in straight lines

  • Strand Light
  • Level Year 6
  • Practice 86 questions with step-by-step solutions

National Curriculum for England, Key Stage 2 science, Year 6. Content: L1 recognise that light appears to travel in straight lines, L4 use the idea that light travels in straight lines to explain that the shadows have the same shape as the objects that cast them.

Open Year 6 chapter

By the end of this chapter you will be able to

  • Show that light travels in a straight line, using holes in cards
  • Explain why a shadow has the same shape as the object that casts it
  • Explain why a shadow gets bigger when the object is nearer the light source
  • Explain how a pinhole makes an upside-down image, using straight lines of light
  • Describe safe ways to use light, and never look at the Sun

You should already know

  • Light and shadows, and light being blocked to make a shadow (Year 3 Science, Chapter 8)
  • Fair tests, tables and bar charts (Chapter 1 of this book)

Where this leads

  • How we see objects, using reflection and the eye (Year 6 Science, Chapter 8)

Lessons in this chapter

  1. 7.1 Light travels in straight lines
  2. 7.2 Shadows have the same shape as the object
  3. 7.3 Shadow size and distance
  4. 7.4 A pinhole and an upside-down image
  5. 7.5 Light, the Sun and safety
  6. Summary and key words
  7. Check-up and practice test questions

Read the whole chapter on one page (good for printing).