Light and shadow
One lamp casts a sharp shadow, two lamps a penumbra. Solar and lunar eclipses form in just the same way.
Physics – grade 6
The curriculum assigns these units to exactly this grade (Saxony, Gymnasium up to grade 12; physics from grade 6). The unit numbers are the curriculum’s; optional areas (“Wahlbereiche”) are labelled W1–W3 here.
Unit 1Light and its properties
Straight-line propagation, shadows, eclipses and lunar phases, reflection and refraction, and images formed by converging lenses and simple optical instruments.
Reflection at a plane mirror
Laser at the mirror, measure the angles: angle of incidence equals angle of reflection, every time. And why does the candle appear just as far behind the mirror?
Refraction and total internal reflection
A light ray bends when it passes into glass or water. At a shallow angle it cannot get out at all: total internal reflection, as in an optical fibre.
Lenses and image formation
Move a candle in front of a lens and construct the image with three special rays. It becomes sharp on the screen.
Unit 2Properties and motion of bodies
Bodies made of particles, measuring volume, mass and density, classifying motion and finding the speed of uniform motion.
Particle model and temperature
Ice melts, water boils, and the temperature stops rising meanwhile. The particles show where the energy goes in between.
Unit 3Temperature and state of bodies
Measuring temperature and interpreting it with particle motion, thermal expansion, thermometers and changes of state.
Particle model and temperature
Ice melts, water boils, and the temperature stops rising meanwhile. The particles show where the energy goes in between.
Unit 4Electric circuits
Effects and dangers of electric current, conductors and insulators, building circuits from diagrams, branched and unbranched.
Simple circuit
Build a circuit with a battery, a switch and a lamp, as a set-up and as a circuit diagram. When the circuit is closed, the lamp lights up.
Unit W1Seeing and photography (optional)
Comparing the eye and the camera, building a pinhole camera.
Lenses and image formation
Move a candle in front of a lens and construct the image with three special rays. It becomes sharp on the screen.
Unit W2Thermal insulation (optional)
Finding heat losses in a house and investigating insulation.
No separate simulation is planned for this.
Unit W3Colours (optional)
Splitting white light, additive and subtractive colour mixing.
No separate simulation is planned for this.
The summaries describe the curriculum in our own words. The original text is authoritative. Original text (German): Lehrplan, Gymnasium, Physics, grade 6