The Tech Edvocate

Top Menu

  • Advertisement
  • Apps
  • Home Page
  • Home Page Five (No Sidebar)
  • Home Page Four
  • Home Page Three
  • Home Page Two
  • Home Tech2
  • Icons [No Sidebar]
  • Left Sidbear Page
  • Lynch Educational Consulting
  • My Account
  • My Speaking Page
  • Newsletter Sign Up Confirmation
  • Newsletter Unsubscription
  • Our Brands
  • Page Example
  • Privacy Policy
  • Protected Content
  • Register
  • Request a Product Review
  • Shop
  • Shortcodes Examples
  • Signup
  • Start Here
    • Governance
    • Careers
    • Contact Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • The Edvocate
  • The Tech Edvocate Product Guide
  • Topics
  • Write For Us
  • Advertise

Main Menu

  • Start Here
    • Our Brands
    • Governance
      • Lynch Educational Consulting
      • Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
      • Careers
    • Write For Us
    • The Tech Edvocate Product Guide
    • Contact Us
    • Books
    • Pedagogue
    • Edupedia
    • The Edvocate Podcast
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Topics
    • Assistive Technology
    • Child Development Tech
    • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech
    • EdTech Futures
    • EdTech News
    • EdTech Policy & Reform
    • EdTech Startups & Businesses
    • Higher Education EdTech
    • Online Learning & eLearning
    • Parent & Family Tech
    • Personalized Learning
    • Product Reviews
  • Advertise
  • Apps
  • Tech Edvocate Awards
  • The Edvocate
  • P-20 Ed Careers

logo

The Tech Edvocate

  • Start Here
    • Our Brands
    • Governance
      • Lynch Educational Consulting
      • Dr. Lynch’s Personal Website
        • My Speaking Page
      • Careers
    • Write For Us
    • The Tech Edvocate Product Guide
    • Contact Us
    • Books
    • Pedagogue
    • Edupedia
    • The Edvocate Podcast
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
  • Topics
    • Assistive Technology
    • Child Development Tech
    • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech
    • EdTech Futures
    • EdTech News
    • EdTech Policy & Reform
    • EdTech Startups & Businesses
    • Higher Education EdTech
    • Online Learning & eLearning
    • Parent & Family Tech
    • Personalized Learning
    • Product Reviews
  • Advertise
  • Apps
  • Tech Edvocate Awards
  • The Edvocate
  • P-20 Ed Careers
  • Teaching Learners Digital Content Creation Skills

  • How to Empower Your Faculty in a Mobile Learning Environment

  • Product Review of Construct 3

  • Product Review of Cogent Education

  • Product Review of Clips

  • Product Review of Chairs! Organic Chemistry Game

  • Product Review of Bugs and Numbers

  • Product Review of Bookopolis

  • Product Review of Jump Numbers

  • Product Review of Happy Atoms

Teachers
Home›Teachers›Laser Light Show: Classroom Edition

Laser Light Show: Classroom Edition

By Matthew Lynch
August 24, 2017
5945
0
Spread the love

In the classroom, it is a teacher’s job to bring students into the light — figuratively and literally. Light is a mandatory resource for nearly all workers in nearly all industries, and understanding how light is created and how humans can manipulate it is fascinating and beneficial.

Photonics, the study of photons or light particles, is a rarely breached STEM field in classrooms around the country, but it is one that is incredibly useful to future workers. Lasers in particular are becoming ubiquitous, moving from the humble pointer to tools of immense power and utility. Classrooms everywhere can gain by integrating laser lessons and equipment. Here’s why lasers are creating an ed tech revolution:

Learning About Lasers

Before teachers bring laser technology into the classroom as tools, students should fully understand the basics of optics and photonics. Light is primarily a particle, but it also behaves like a wave. Visible light is diffuse and consists of multiple wavelengths, which allows us to discern different colors in the world around us. Teachers can delve into how light is created at the atomic level — energy released as electrons move to different orbits — and how refraction and reflection work when light passes through different substances.

While “laser” has become a common word in the modern lexicon, it is actually an acronym that stands for, “light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation.” Lasers are a special type of light generated when electrons in special atoms become excited. Using electrical current or another laser, scientists can force special glasses, crystals, or gases to absorb energy, making their electrons jump to a higher-energy orbit. When those electrons return to their normal state, they emit light, and because the photons are all the same wavelength, the light remains focused for vast distances and appears as a single color.

Lasers come in all colors and sizes. In nature, lasers can last milliseconds or eons and typically occur around astrophysical phenomena, like comets and black holes. On Earth, scientists can produce lasers as wide as three football fields that remain focused to the moon and back; modern lasers can generate more than 500 trillion watts of power. On the other hand, manufactured lasers can also be minute and precise, cutting a line just 10 microns thick — which is about the size of two red blood cells. Lasers can last for short pulses, billionths of seconds long, or they can be sustained indefinitely, as long as energy is input.

Thanks to their seemingly limitless variability, lasers are changing the world — which is perhaps the most important lesson for students. Today, lasers are used for diverse purposes, from human surgery to reading data from CDs and DVDs. Lasers are essential tools in manufacturing, used for cutting metal and other materials as well as measuring distances, temperatures, and more. They are seeming more applications in the military, both as an observation tool and a weapon, and they are used in nearly every field of science. With this in mind, teachers should help students begin practicing using the tech that already impacts their lives — and will continue to do so in the future.

Teaching With Lasers

Most teachers already make free use of laser pointers to direct students’ attention at particular areas of their lessons. Most classrooms around the United States are also equipped with laser projectors, which provide higher-quality images and last longer than projectors of the past. However, there is a wealth of additional laser technologies that will assist teachers and students — both in learning about lasers and gaining other valuable knowledge and skills.

Laser cutters and engravers can help students learn about lasers’ mutability in size, motion, and power. Plus, teachers can combine use of laser cutters and engravers with other subjects and units. For example, students might learn CAD software to use laser cutters to make pieces for architectural models to learn design and construction. Further, they can learn photo-editing and illustrating software to use laser engravers for graphic design or branding practice. The same flexibility is true of other laser processes and devices, including laser surface modification, laser ablation, laser annealing, and more.

Lasers are not only applicable to academic science, the military, and manufacturing. It is beneficial for all students to grasp the scope of lasers, for they are undeniably increasing in importance and relevance. Teachers and students benefit by adding lasers to classrooms, and there are so many ways to do so successfully.

 

 

 

TagsSTEAMSTEMteachers
Previous Article

Is Digital Equity the Civil Rights Issue ...

Next Article

How to involve students in your college’s ...

Matthew Lynch

Related articles More from author

  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTechHigher Education EdTech

    Technology and Multisensory Learning: A New Twist to an Old Application

    June 26, 2016
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTechInfluencers

    Trailblazers in Edtech: Angela Maiers

    September 21, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech

    Is Artificial Intelligence the Future of Education?

    August 30, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • STEM

    5 Ways to Strengthen Early STEM Learning

    February 4, 2018
    By Matthew Lynch
  • EdTech & InnovationEquity

    Districts Need To Set Up Wi-Fi for Students in Public Housing

    September 27, 2017
    By Matthew Lynch
  • Uncategorized

    Digital Doom? 3 Effects of Texting and Tweeting on Students’ Writing Skills

    December 3, 2016
    By Matthew Lynch

Leave a reply Cancel reply

  • Early ChildhoodProduct Reviews

    Product Review of Montessori Preschool

  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech

    Is Your School Ready for the Future of Education?

  • Digital EquityDigital Leadership

    How Can You Assess the Tech Needs of Your Students Outside of School?

Search

Login & Registration

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Newsletter

Signup for The Tech Edvocate Newsletter and have the latest in EdTech news and opinion delivered to your email address!

  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Teaching Learners Digital Content Creation Skills

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 19, 2022
  • How to Empower Your Faculty in a Mobile Learning Environment

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 19, 2022
  • Product Review of Construct 3

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 19, 2022
  • Product Review of Cogent Education

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 19, 2022
  • Product Review of Clips

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 19, 2022
  • 20 Top Virtual Reality Apps that are Changing Education

    By Matthew Lynch
    March 11, 2017
  • 7 Ways Technology Is Impacting Modern Education

    By Matthew Lynch
    March 4, 2017
  • Why Mobile Technology Enhances Instruction

    By Matthew Lynch
    December 14, 2016
  • 7 Roles for Artificial Intelligence in Education

    By Matthew Lynch
    May 5, 2018
  • Digital Literacy is the Most Important Lifelong Learning Tool

    By Matthew Lynch
    December 30, 2017
  • 4 Ways EdTech Companies Can Involve Faculty in Research - WGU Labs | Advancing Innovation in ...
    on
    May 17, 2022

    25 Ways that EdTech Benefits Teachers and Students

    […] EdTech products can ...
  • What is a professional learning network? - What Type Degree
    on
    May 16, 2022

    What is a Personal Learning Network?

    […] What is a ...
  • Digital Branding is Key for Everyone In Education | Edtech Magazine
    on
    May 15, 2022

    Tips To Conduct A Gap Analysis For Your LMS Marketing Strategy

    […] How do you ...
  • 7 Ways to Approach Financial Decluttering in Your Life - Amida Wealth
    on
    May 15, 2022

    The Best External Hard Drives Of 2022: All The Best Options For Backing Up Your Device’s ...

    […] and updating your ...
  • Top 18 g suite for education là gì mới nhất năm 2022 - tophoidap
    on
    May 15, 2022

    What is G Suite for Education?

    […] https://www.thetechedvocate.org/what-is-g-suite-for-education/ […]

EdTech Policy & Reform

  • Adaptive LearningCurriculum & InstructionDigital & Mobile TechnologyDigital Age TeachersEarly Childhood & K-12 EdTechEdTech & InnovationEdTech Policy & ReformInstructional Technology

    Exploring New Ideas: Student-Driven Remote Learning

    Spread the loveRemote learning is taking its toll on our students. They miss the social side of school. Not seeing their classmates or teachers is leading to nervousness, anxiety, and ...
  • Digital & Mobile TechnologyEdTech & InnovationEdTech Policy & Reform

    Implementing Education Technology by Pursuing Technology Education

    Spread the loveTechnology is used for many great things in our world. It’s a powerful tool when used correctly. As such, this powerful tool can be used to transform learning.  ...
  • EdTech Policy & Reform

    How Much Bias Is Okay in Your School?

    Spread the loveThe algorithm has proven itself to be a handy tool when it comes to solving education problems. It’s also not without bias.  You may be wondering how some ...
  • EdTech Policy & ReformFeaturedFresh

    Edtech Should Complement Good Pedagogy, Not Attempt to Replace It

    Spread the loveThe newest generation of edtech is downright amazing; it’s no wonder that various education stakeholders might be a little excited about its potential to transform education. However, edtech ...
  • EdTech Policy & ReformFeaturedFresh

    How to Teach Kids to Communicate in This Digital Age

    Spread the loveWhen even the youngest children are spending the equivalent of a full work day looking at screens, it is perhaps no surprise that parents are wondering how to ...

EdTech Startups & Businesses

  • Digital LeadershipEdTech Startups & BusinessesProduct Reviews

    Product Review of Collegix

    Spread the love This is a comprehensive ERP solution for colleges and universities that provides modular, totally integrated learners services, finance, HR, and advancement. Collegix provides online and offline workarounds ...
  • Early Childhood & K-12 EdTechEdTech Startups & BusinessesProduct Reviews

    Product Review of Discovery Education

    Spread the love Discovery Education is a big player in EdTech. The company has established itself as the leading provider of digital curriculum resources, digital content, and professional development for ...
  • EdTech Startups & BusinessesProduct Reviews

    Product Review of AptaFund

    Spread the loveAptaFund is a business management software that provides essential functions to educational institutions, such as web access to educators, parents, and learners. It allows elementary schools and other educational ...
  • EdTech Startups & Businesses

    Understanding the Fundamentals of a Sales Script in Your Customer Interaction Journey

    Spread the loveSales scripts are crucial to any business and can be the main difference in achieving the set targets. A well-written sales script that factors in customers from different ...
  • Digital & Mobile TechnologyEdTech Startups & BusinessesTeachers

    Top 5 Things to Consider When Designing an LMS

    Spread the loveCovid-19 has changed many things in our world, and education is one of them. More students lean toward using online schooling. Therefore, learning management systems (LMS) are becoming ...

Digital Equity

  • Digital & Mobile TechnologyDigital EquityDigital Literacy

    Teaching Learners Digital Content Creation Skills

    Spread the loveContent curation is nothing new and has always been a coveted skill. It has been this way for hundreds of years — think of art galleries, museums, or ...
  • Digital & Mobile TechnologyDigital EquityEdTech & Innovation

    Promoting Online Access With Hotspots, Laptops, and Planning

    Spread the loveWhen becoming a leader in the field of education, it is important to consider equity. Some students may not have access to devices or the internet from their ...
  • Digital EquityDigital Leadership

    How Can You Assess the Tech Needs of Your Students Outside of School?

    Spread the loveToday, I received an email from the middle school principal in Los Angeles. She explained to me that the school that she ran was in one of the ...
  • Digital Equity

    It Is Time for the Edtech Industry to Stop Denying Its Equity and Race Problem

    Spread the loveThe EdTech industry is dominated by white employees, white leaders, and white entrepreneurs. If you doubt this statement, just attend an Edtech conference. Admittedly, educators and others don’t ...
  • Digital Equity

    How OER Can Help Overcome the Higher Education Equity Barrier

    Spread the loveThe cornerstone of the American dream is the ability to succeed in life regardless of one’s family of origin. And, for most people, that requires a college education. ...

EdTech Futures

  • Adaptive LearningAssistive TechnologyEdTech FuturesInstructional TechnologyTeachers

    Will AI Replace Teachers?

    Spread the loveThrough the years, robots have taken over many jobs. First, they replaced horses and wagons and horses and plows, then they started to replace people. A few examples ...
  • EdTech FuturesHigher EducationHigher Education EdTechUncategorized

    The Future of Higher Education Must Avoid Returning to the Past

    Spread the loveColleges and universities can make higher education safer, smarter, and more accessible through automation and collaboration technologies – if they commit to it. Author: John Hulen, Director of ...
  • EdTech FuturesOnline Learning & eLearning

    IT Trends To Watch As Higher Education Moves Into a New Decade

    Spread the loveEdtech couldn’t have hoped for a better launch into the new decade than the push the industry received from COVID-19. Even the most tech-resistant institutions and individuals have ...
  • EdTech Futures

    4 Emerging EdTech Trends in 2022

    Spread the loveCovid-19 has not only changed education as we know it, but it has forced education technology (EdTech) to up its game. EdTech has been crucial since the start of this ...
  • Adult EducationEdTech & InnovationEdTech FuturesEducation LeadershipEducational LeadershipHigher EducationHigher Education EdTechThe Future of Education

    Education Technology and the Future of Higher Ed Leadership

    Spread the loveEducation Technology (EdTech) has had a more significant impact on education than anyone expected. Now its effects are reaching into the field of higher education. In this article, ...

About Us

Since technology is not going anywhere and does more good than harm, adapting is the best course of action. That is where The Tech Edvocate comes in. We plan to cover the PreK-12 and Higher Education EdTech sectors and provide our readers with the latest news and opinion on the subject. From time to time, I will invite other voices to weigh in on important issues in EdTech. We hope to provide a well-rounded, multi-faceted look at the past, present, the future of EdTech in the US and internationally.

We started this journey back in June 2016, and we plan to continue it for many more years to come. I hope that you will join us in this discussion of the past, present and future of EdTech and lend your own insight to the issues that are discussed.

Newsletter

Signup for The Tech Edvocate Newsletter and have the latest in EdTech news and opinion delivered to your email address!

Contact Us

The Tech Edvocate
5322 Markel Road, Suite 104
Richmond, VA 23230
(601) 630-5238
[email protected]

Follow us

Copyright © 2022 Matthew Lynch. All rights reserved.